Maurice Ascalon ( he, מוריס אשקלון; 1913–2003) was an Israeli
designer
A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans.
In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...
and
sculptor
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
. He was, by some accounts, considered the father of the modern Israeli decorative arts movement.
Biography
Moshe Klein (later Maurice Ascalon) was born in eastern
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
(the town of
Fehérgyarmat
Fehérgyarmat is a town in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, in the Northern Great Plain region of eastern Hungary.
Geography
It covers an area of and has a population of 8089 people (2015).
Twin towns – sister cities
Fehérgyarmat is twinn ...
). From an early age, he was drawn to art, which was frowned upon in the eastern Hungarian "
shtetl
A shtetl or shtetel (; yi, שטעטל, translit=shtetl (singular); שטעטלעך, romanized: ''shtetlekh'' (plural)) is a Yiddish term for the small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jewish populations which existed in Eastern Europe before ...
" in which he was raised. When he was 15 years old Klein left his boyhood home to study art at the
Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts
The Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Brussels (french: Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts - École supérieure des Arts de la Ville de Bruxelles (ARBA-ESA), nl, Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten van Brussel), is an art school established in B ...
in Brussels. He took with him an understanding of Jewish rituals and traditions which knowledge he later incorporated in his work.
In 1934, after undertaking his formal artistic training in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
and later
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
, Maurice Ascalon immigrated to the land of
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
(then the
British Mandate of Palestine British Mandate of Palestine or Palestine Mandate most often refers to:
* Mandate for Palestine: a League of Nations mandate under which the British controlled an area which included Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan.
* Mandatory P ...
). There he met his wife-to-be, Zipora Kartujinsky] a
Polish people, Polish-born Jew, granddaughter to the distinguished cartographer and scientist of the same surname. (Zipora, who died in 1982, became a sculptor in her own right late in her life, creating bas reliefs depicting the shtetl life of her childhood).
Art career
In 1939, Maurice Ascalon designed and created the enormous hammered
repoussé copper relief sculpture of three figures, "The Tiller of the Soil, the Laborer and the Scholar", which adorned the façade of the Jewish Palestine Pavilion of the
1939 New York World's Fair. Ascalon was commissioned to create this work for the historically significant Pavilion which introduced the world to the concept of a modern
Jewish state
In world politics, Jewish state is a characterization of Israel as the nation-state and sovereign homeland of the Jewish people.
Modern Israel came into existence on 14 May 1948 as a polity to serve as the homeland for the Jewish people. ...
. (The work is now part of the collection of the
Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership
Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership (Spertus College or Spertus) is a private educational center in Chicago, Illinois. Spertus offers learning opportunities that are "rooted in Jewish wisdom and culture and open to all" although ...
in Chicago.)
In the late 1930s, Ascalon founded an Israeli
decorative arts
]
The decorative arts are arts or crafts whose object is the design and manufacture of objects that are both beautiful and functional. It includes most of the arts making objects for the interiors of buildings, and interior design, but not usual ...
manufacturing company
Pal-Bell which produced trademark bronze and brass
Menorah (Temple), menorahs and other
Judaic
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the M ...
and secular decorative art and functional items that were exported in large numbers worldwide. Maurice Ascalon's designs, some
art deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
, others more traditional, introduced the use of a chemically induced green
patina (
verdigris
Verdigris is the common name for blue-green, copper-based pigments that form a patina on copper, bronze, and brass. The technical literature is ambiguous as to its chemical composition. Some sources refer to "neutral verdigris" as copper(II) ...
) to Israeli metalwork. During Israel's War for Independence in 1948, he designed munitions for the Israeli army and, at the request of the Israeli government, retrofitted his factory to produce munitions for the war effort. In 1956 Maurice immigrated to the United States.
During the latter part of the 1950s through the 1960s, Maurice resided in New York and Los Angeles. He gained a reputation as a master silversmith, creating for synagogues
Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...
crowns and other objects of
Jewish ceremonial art
Jewish ceremonial art, also known as Judaica (), refers to an array of objects used by Jews for ritual purposes. Because enhancing a mitzvah by performing it with an especially beautiful object is considered a praiseworthy way of honoring God's ...
. For a time, he taught sculpture on the fine arts faculty of the
University of Judaism
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
(now the
American Jewish University
American Jewish University (AJU), formerly the separate institutions University of Judaism and Brandeis-Bardin Institute, is a Jewish institution in Los Angeles, California.
Its largest component is its Whizin Center for Continuing Education in ...
) in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
.
In the late 1970s
Ascalon Studios relocated to the
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
area. It became (and still is today, under the direction of Maurice's son,
David Ascalon
David Ascalon ( he, דוד אשקלון; born March 8, 1945) is an Israeli contemporary sculptor
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physicall ...
) a multifaceted art studio dedicated to the design of and creation of site-specific art for worship and public spaces.
In February 2003, Maurice Ascalon celebrated his 90th birthday as a resident of
Cuernavaca, Mexico
Cuernavaca (; nci-IPA, Cuauhnāhuac, kʷawˈnaːwak "near the woods", ) is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. The city is located around a 90-minute drive south of Mexico City using the Federal Highway 95D.
The n ...
, where he lived with his eldest son, Adir Ascalon (Adir was a surrealist painter and sculptor who collaborated with the noted Mexican muralist
David Alfaro Siqueiros). In August 2003, Maurice Ascalon succumbed to complications related to
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...
.
Maurice Ascalon's commissions include permanent installations at worship and public spaces throughout the United States, Mexico, and Israel. His works have been exhibited at and are among the collections of institutions including the
Jewish Museum (New York), the Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia,
Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership
Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership (Spertus College or Spertus) is a private educational center in Chicago, Illinois. Spertus offers learning opportunities that are "rooted in Jewish wisdom and culture and open to all" although ...
in Chicago, the
Eretz Israel Museum
The Eretz Israel Museum (also known as Muza) is a historical and archeological museum in the Ramat Aviv neighborhood of Tel Aviv, Israel.
Eretz Israel Museum, established in 1953, has a large display of archaeological, anthropological and his ...
in Tel Aviv, and the University of Judaism in Los Angeles.
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*"New Jersey Artist Honored Posthumously in Tel Aviv" ''New Jersey Jewish News'', December 15, 2005 at 50.
*
*"In the Frame" by Gil Goldfine, ''The Jerusalem Post'', August 15, 2003 p.B14.
*"Sculptor Maurice Ascalon Dies" by Barbara Rothschild, ''
The Courier-Post'', August 7, 2003 at B1.
*"M. Ascalon Maker of Judaic Art", ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', August 5, 2003.
See also
*
Visual arts in Israel
Visual arts in Israel refers to plastic art created first in the region of Palestine, from the later part of the 19th century until 1948 and subsequently in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories by Israeli artists. Visual art in Israel ...
*
Brad Ascalon
Brad Ascalon (born in 1977), is an American industrial designer who grew up in the Philadelphia suburb of Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He earned a bachelor's degree at Rutgers University, and received a master's degree in industrial design from New Yo ...
External links
Maurice Ascalon's Pal-Bell Co. Ltd.Pal-Bell Online Collectors Forum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ascalon, Maurice
1913 births
2003 deaths
Deaths from Parkinson's disease
American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent
Israeli people of Hungarian-Jewish descent
Hungarian Jews
Hungarian sculptors
Hungarian emigrants to Mandatory Palestine
Israeli emigrants to the United States
Israeli sculptors
Ashkenazi Jews in Mandatory Palestine
Israeli Ashkenazi Jews
Jewish sculptors
Mexican Ashkenazi Jews
Modern sculptors
People from Cuernavaca
Neurological disease deaths in Mexico
Art Deco artists
20th-century American sculptors
20th-century Israeli male artists
American male sculptors
20th-century American male artists