Janos Kass

Hungarian Modernist Judaica Etching Print Teffilin, Jewish Rabbi in Prayer

1992

From very small edition of 15 on handmade mould made paper, with Jewish star Magen David watermark. From the deluxe boxed portfolio edition. Hand signed in pencil. János Kass (December 26, 1927 – March 29, 2010) was a Hungarian illustrator, printmaker, graphic designer, postage stamp designer, animated film director and teacher. Hungary's foremost graphic artist and book illustrator. Born in Szeged, he was the storyboard artist for the first fully digital animated film. This is done in a manner reminiscent of Saul Raskin, Tully Filmus and William Gropper, this is a modern take on a classic judaic subject matter, similar in style and tone to Abram Krol, Jakob Steinhardt, Josef Budko and Hermann Struck. Beginning his artistic studies at the Applied Art Academy, Kass finished in 1951 at the Academy of Fine Arts, a student of Gyula Hincz, György Kádár and György Konecsni. From 1956 to 1959 he held the Derkovits scholarship. From 1961 to 1962, he was assistant professor at the Book-Art Academy in Leipzig, Germany. Kass regularly took part in every major national exhibition at home and abroad. He had one-man shows in Italy (1963), Australia (1970) and Switzerland (1976). He participated in the Venice Biennial (1960), the Youth Biennial in Paris (1961), and Biennials in Lugano, Tokyo, Ljubljana, São Paulo and Buenos Aires, along with "Intergrafik" exhibitions in Berlin. He made many friends within the British graphic art fraternity while spending some months in London during 1980, working on one of the earliest, fully digitized computer-animated films, Dilemma, with John Halas. He had already won recognition with his illustrations and book designs. At the 1973 Leipzig book fair, his work was awarded the title of best illustrated book at the fair. This accolade was repeated at the Frankfurt fair in 1999. The 11-minute Dilemma was nominated at that year's Cannes Film Festival for the Golden Palm for Best Short Film, and is considered the first fully digital animated film. Kass was also a background artist for the "So Beautiful and So Dangerous" segment of Ivan Reitman Productions' 1981 animated feature film Heavy Metal. Kass' drawings, etchings and silk-screen prints were exhibited in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge in 1989 and in 1990 at London Olympia. He later held a one-man show in Edinburgh. He illustrated something like 400 books, classical novels and children's stories, among them an elegant edition of Imre Madách's 19th-century drama The Tragedy of Man, published in Iain MacLeod's translation by Edinburgh's Canongate press in 1993. He won Hungary's highest artistic award, the Kossuth prize, and was an elected member of the Széchenyi academy. János Kass’ s numerous works can be found in the Hungarian National Gallery. Since 1985, the János Kass Gallery...

From very small edition of 15 on handmade mould made paper, with Jewish star Magen David watermark. From the deluxe boxed portfolio edition. János Kass (...

Jacob Steinhardt, 1887-1968 Hand signed in pencil, woodblock print woodcut. Frame: 22.5" x 18" Image: 16.75" X 12.5" "Psalm" 12/30 Jakob Steinhardt, Painter and Woodcut Artist. b. 1887, Yaacov Steinhardt was born in the then remote, largely Polish town of Zerkow in the Posen District of Germany. (poland/german) Immigrated 1933. Studies: 1906 School of Art, 1906 Studied in Berlin Arts and Crafts School. Berlin; 1907 painting with Lovis Corinth and engraving and etching with Hermann Struck; advanced studies, 1908-10 Paris, with Henri Matisse and Steinlen; 1911 Italy. Teaching: Bezalel, Jerusalem, 1953-57 Director. 1910 Participated in the “New Sezession”, Berlin. 1912 together with Ludwig Meidner and Janthur he founded the "Pathetiker" group very early in the German expressionist movement. Running afoul of the Nazis, he fled to Tel-Aviv and then Jerusalem in the early 30s, showing in “Der Sturm” Gallery. 1914 Exhibited with ludwig Meidner at first Expressionist Exhibition in Berlin. Worked mainly in woodcuts depicting biblical and other Jewish subjects. 1955-58 International awards for his woodcuts. receives graphic commissions from Fritz Gurlitt. 1922 Marries Minni Gumpert. Active in organizing Secession exhibits. 1925 Trips to Mark Brandenburg and Holy Land. Turns primarily to painting; stops work on etchings and lithographs. 1933 Emigrates to the Palestine. 1934 Moves to Jerusalem and opens an art school; attempts some etchings. 1948 Closes the art school and becomes Chairman of Graphics Department, Bezalel School for Arts and Crafts. 1954-57 Director of Bezalel School for Arts and Crafts. Taken up by J. B. Neumann who became the agent for his etchings. Exhibited Sturm Gallery, Herbst-salon. 1914 Outbreak of World War I; Steinhardt enlists in German army. 1916-18 First on Eastern Front in Poland and Lithuania, then after short training period in Berlin, sent to Macedonia. 1917 Exhibition of Lithuanian drawings at Berlin Secession in Spring. Elected member of the Secession. He often used wood-cutting techniques that were popular amongst German Expressionists. Steinhardt was driven to express ideas clearly and decisively through art. Amongst the themes found in his work the prophets of the Bible, such as Jonah, are noticeable. Steinhardt identified deeply with Jonah due to his attempt to run from God's call to duty. Additionally, the image of beggars was often found in Steinhardt's works and in his artistic presentation of the less fortunate, the artist's love for his fellow man becomes evident. Moreover, the grotesque was a theme noticeable in Steinhardt's earliest pieces. These were fantastical images; it was unclear whether or not they were human or demon. In the 1950's, Steinhardt returned to these images upon learning of the Holocaust of Europe's Jews. At that time he resided in New York and there, in the shadow of the skyscrapers, Steinhardt's reaction to WWII was expressed through his art. A Collection of Works by Artists of the Land of IsraelThe Bezalel National Museum, Jerusalem 1940 Artists: Shemi, Menahem Rubin...

Arbit Blatas (1908 – 1999) Hand signed and numbered to lower edge Ecole de Paris Portrait Printed on Arches French deckle edged art paper 1962 Arbit Blatas (1908 – 1999), born Nicol...