Efraim Fima

Chinese Israeli Modernist Still Life Lithograph Abstract Flowers in Vase

Fruit and Flowers monoprint by Calman Shemi Calman Shemi, sculptor and painter, was born in Argentina in 1939. A graduate of the School of Sculpture and Ceramics in Mendoza, he studied under the Italian-Argentinean sculptor Libero Badii whom he credits with putting him on the right path. “He taught me principals, not only related to sculpture, but human and philosophic principals. Shemi also carefully studied the work of such masters as Pablo Picasso, Caravaggio, Frank Stella and Henri Matisse. “From each one of these great artists I learned something from observing them,” he says. In 1961, at the age of 20, Shemi immigrated to Israel and joined Kibbutz Carmia of which he was a member for twenty years. There he worked in agriculture and also as a sculptor working with wood and clay. Several of his large-scale fiberglass and polyester sculpture projects are situated in public buildings. He was a student of German-Israeli sculptor Rudi Lehmann, a pioneer of the artistic movement known as “Canaanism.” Canaanite art was an effort to create a direct relationship with the land, bypassing historic Jewish connotations—hence the land’s primordial name is used. Canaanite works, with an emphasis on the inter-action of simple shapes, bear a deliberate resemblance to the sculpture and ritual art of early civilizations of the Middle East prior to Judaism, always with an eye to the fusion of man and the land itself. Though sculpture dominated his early years as an artist, in the mid ’70s Shemi developed the idea of the “soft painting” medium. Beginning with a color drawing done to scale, Shemi layers onto the drawing irregularly shaped pieces of variously textured and colored fabrics. Using a threadless 9,000-needle sewing machine, the fabrics are meshed to one another and to the background, resulting in vibrant wool tapestry carpet compositions infused with exuberant color and explosive movement. Over the years, Shemi has continued to challenge himself with new artistic mediums, developing two more techniques of painting: “Lacquer paintings” and “window paintings.” He also works in monotype, lithograph and silkscreen techniques. He creates his Lacquer Painting by applying vibrant colors to wood or metal panel that has been gilded with gold or silver leaf, and sometimes both. After the oil paint has thoroughly dried, many layers of lacquer are applied to the surface giving it a glowing effect. Between each layer of lacquer the piece is hand-polished to give the surface its very shiny look. Shemi’s “lacquer” and “window” paintings are reminiscent of ancient techniques used centuries ago in Japan and China. Shemi concludes, “All of the art that I create is full of optimism and beauty. That’s all. Simple, very simple.” During the past eighteen years Shemi has held more than seventy one-man shows in the U.S., Japan, Germany, Spain, Belgium and Israel. His works can be seen in many public and private collections around the world. He is of a generation of contemporary Israeli artists, somewhat influenced by pop art that include Alex Pauker...

Ben-Zion (1897-1987) Flower Piece with Black Vase Oil on board, Hand signed 'Ben-Zion ' lower right, with the artist 's label and label from Duveen-Graham gallery, NY. 16 x 7 3/4 in., unframed as intended, Born in 1897, Ben-Zion Weinman celebrated his European Jewish heritage in his visual works as a sculptor, painter, and printmaker. Influenced by Spinoza, Knut Hamsun, and Wladyslaw Reymont, as well as Hebrew literature, Ben-Zion wrote poetry and essays that, like his visual work, attempt to reveal the deep “connection between man and the divine, and between man and earth.” An emigrant from the Ukraine, he came to the US in 1920. He wrote fairy tales and poems in Hebrew under the name Benzion Weinman, but when he began painting he dropped his last name and hyphenated his first, saying an artist needed only one name. Ben-Zion was a founding member of “The Ten: An Independent Group” The Ten” a 1930’s avant-garde group, Painted on anything handy. Ben-Zion often used cabinet doors (panels) in his work. Other members of group included Ilya Bolotowsky, Lee Gatch, Adolf Gottlieb, Louis Harris, Yankel Kufeld, Marcus Rothkowitz (later known as Mark Rothko), Louis Schanker, and Joseph Solman. Over the course of the group's existence, seventeen artists exhibited as members of The Ten at nine different shows. The group's nine shows were held at galleries and locations around New York City, including one international exhibition in Paris. David Burliuk, Lee Gatch, John Graham, Earl Kerkam, Karl Knaths, Edgar Levy, Jean Liberté...

Katarzyna LIBROWICZ Polish French painter studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and arrived in France in 1937 . She studied with André Lhote in Montparnasse Paris and exhibited at the Salon d'Automne and the Salon des Independants . She is one of the painters of the School of Paris . Peintre polonaise.Elle étudia à l'Académie des Beaux-Arts de Varsovie, puis arriva en France en 1937. Elle suivit les...

Theresa Bernstein, 1890 - 2002 Abstract Still Life Oil and Pen on Paper Painting (1994) by Theresa Bernstein Frame: 26" X 22", Image: 18.5" X 14.75" A Polish born American modernist figurative artist in the traditions of the Ashcan and New York Realism Schools, wife of William Meyerowitz. The artwork represents a still life with two flower vases. Signed by the artist and dated 1994 in the lower left. Theresa Ferber Bernstein-Meyerowitz (1890 – 2002) was an American artist, writer, and supercentenarian born in Kraków, in what is now Poland, and raised in Philadelphia. She received her art training in Philadelphia and New York City. Over the course of nearly a century, she produced hundreds of paintings and other artwork, plus several books and journals. Bernstein and her husband William Meyerowitz (a WPA, New deal artist), who was also an artist, lived and worked in Manhattan and Gloucester, Massachusetts. She painted portraits and scenes of daily life, plus reflections of the major issues of her time, in a modern style that evolved from realism to expressionism. She was active in several art associations and promoted her husband's work as well as her own. Her artworks are found in dozens of museums and private collections in the United States and abroad. She remained active all her life and was honored with a solo exhibition of 110 art works to celebrate her 110th birthday. Bernstein also authored several books, including a biography of her husband and a journal about their many trips to Israel. She died in 2002, just a couple of weeks short of her 112th birthday. Theresa Ferber Bernstein was born in Cracow, Poland, on March 1, 1890. She was the only child of Isidore Bernstein, a Jewish textile...

This vibrant artwork " Summer flowers bouquet by the window" features a dynamic still life composition of flowers in a vase. Bold brushstrokes bring energy and movement to the canvas...

Ira Moskowitz, Polish/American (1912 - 2001) - Flowers 6, Year: circa 1979, Medium: Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil, Edition: 75, Size: 29.5 in. x 21 in. (74.93 cm x 53.34...

Bouquet is an original artwork realized in the XX Century. Original lithograph on paper. Perfect conditions. Beautiful and fresh lithograph representing a colored bouquet of flow...

Ira Moskowitz, Polish/American (1912 - 2001) - Flowers 7, Year: circa 1979, Medium: Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil, Edition: 250, AP, Size: 30 x 21 in. (76.2 x 53.34 cm...