By Moshe Castel
Located in Union City, NJ
SCROLLS by the Israeli artist Moshe Castel (1909-1991) is a limited edition lithograph printed using traditional hand lithography techniques on archival Somerset paper 100% acid free. SCROLLS is a dramatic abstract collage, its vertical arrangement depicting a grouping of yellow and gold beige papyrus scroll fragments against a textured background of rich vibrant red and black. Ancient alphabet symbols written on the parchment are visible resembling Aramaic letters which create a mystical quality evoking the biblical history of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Aramaic was once the main language of the Jews and appears in some of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is closely related to Hebrew with the script being very similar.
In SCROLLS, Moshe Castel creates a very aesthetically appealing and captivating contemporary arrangement of ancient Jewish symbolism.
Print size - 29.75 x 21.5 in. unframed, excellent condition, vivid colors, hand signed in pencil by Moshe Castel
Edition size - 150, plus proofs
Year published - 1981
Printer - J K Fine Art Editions Co., NY
Moshe Elazar Castel born in Jerusalem, Ottoman Palestine, in 1909, to Rabbi Yehuda Castel and his wife Rachel. The family was descended from Spanish Jews from Castile who immigrated to the Holy Land after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. Castel attended his father’s school until the age of 13. He went on to study at the Bezalel Art School in Jerusalem, where he was encouraged by his teacher to study in Paris furthering his art education at the Academie Julian and Ecole de Louvre in Paris. He was greatly influenced by European masters Rembrandt, Velasquez, Delacroix and Courbert after spending his days copying their works hanging in the Louvre. Castel returned to Palestine at the onset of WWII. The subject of Castel’s early paintings were scenes of Sephardic Jews in the Holy Land. In 1947, Castel helped to found the "New Horizons" (Ofakim Hadashim) group together with Yosef Zaritsky, Yehezkel Streichman...
Category
1980s Contemporary Toti Scialoja Art