Yehezkel Streichman ( he, יחזקאל שטרייכמן, 1906 – January 12, 1993) was an Israeli painter. He is considered a pioneer of Israeli modernist painting. Among the awards that he won were the Dizengoff Prize and the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize ( he, פרס ישראל; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state cer ...

Biography

Yehezkel Streichman was born in

Kovno Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

(now

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

). He studied at the local gymnasium, was a member of Hashomer Hatza'ir, and emigrated to Palestine in 1924.

Art career

Streichman studied at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design with Arie Aroch in 1924–27. He then completed his studies in Paris at the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth century ...

(1927) and in Florence at the Academy of Art (1928–31). He taught painting throughout his life; in elementary and high schools in 1936, at Kibbutz Ashdot Yaakov in 1941, and at the

Avni Institute Avni Institute of Art and Design is an Israeli art school located in Tel Aviv. History The Studia school (later Avni Institute) was established in 1936 by a group of Jewish artists. Among the founders was Aharon Avni, who became the school's fir ...

in Tel Aviv in 1944 and from 1954–79. Among those who studied with him were Israeli sculptor

Dani Karavan Daniel "Dani" Karavan ( he, דני קרוון, 7 December 1930 – 29 May 2021) was an Israeli sculptor best known for site specific memorials and monuments which merge into the environment. Biography Daniel (Dani) Karavan was born in Tel A ...

and Israeli abstract artist

Lea Nikel Lea Nikel ( he, לאה ניקל; born 1918, died 2005) was an Israeli abstract artist. Biography Lea Nikel (Lea Nikelsberg) was born in Zhitomir, Ukraine, in 1918. Her family immigrated to British-administered Palestine in 1920. She had one sis ...

, also the painter Yehuda Neiman . He and

Avigdor Stematsky Avigdor Stematsky (1908–1989) was a Russian Empire-born Israeli painter. He is considered one of the pioneers of Israeli abstract art. Biography Stematsky was born in 1908 in Odessa. He joined the Massad group in Tel Aviv. In 1929, he went to P ...

formed the Studia Art School in 1944. In 1964, he and Yechiel Shemi and other artists formed a group of artists called Tatzpit (Vantage Point). He participated in 24th

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

(1948), the 28th

(1954), the 3rd

Sao Paulo SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S ...

Biennale (1955), and the 33rd

(1966). He was President of the Israeli Artists and Painters Union.

Style

His painting style involved using successive thick layers of paint. He was an acclaimed painter in what was known as the modernist "New Horizons" (''Ofakim Hadashim'') group in 1950s

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

, which he founded in 1948 along with Joseph Zaritsky and Stematsky. It painted in a French "

lyrical abstraction Lyrical abstraction is either of two related but distinct trends in Post-war Modernist painting: ''European Abstraction Lyrique'' born in Paris, the French art critic Jean José Marchand being credited with coining its name in 1947, considered ...

" style.

Awards and recognition

Streichman won the Dizengoff Prize multiple times (1941, 1944, 1954, 1969), the

Ramat Gan Ramat Gan ( he, רָמַת גַּן or , ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located east of the municipality of Tel Aviv and part of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. It is home to one of the world's major diamond exchanges, and many ...

Prize (1956), the Moadon Milo Prize (1968), the Sandberg Prize for Israeli Art, awarded by the

Israel Museum The Israel Museum ( he, מוזיאון ישראל, ''Muze'on Yisrael'') is an art and archaeological museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world’s leading encyclopa ...

(1974), the

Histadrut Histadrut, or the General Organization of Workers in Israel, originally ( he, ההסתדרות הכללית של העובדים בארץ ישראל, ''HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel HaOvdim B'Eretz Yisrael''), is Israel's national trade union center ...

Prize (1986), the

(1990). In 1948 he participated in 24th

. During the years 1941–44 he was a member of Kibbutz Ashdot Ya'akov. During 1945–48 he founded ''The Studio'' in

with Stematsky. In 1948 Streichman was one of the founders of ''New Horizon'' Group. In 1981 he was made an Honorary citizen of Tel Aviv and in 1992 Honorary President of the Association of Artists and sculptors. He died on January 12, 1993, in

, at the age of 86. A street in the Nofei Yam neighborhood of Tel Aviv is named after him in acknowledgment of his contributions to the arts.

Solo exhibitions

Published works

''Yehezkel Streichman: paintings: 1942–1975''
Muze'on Tel Aviv (1975)
''Yehezkel Streichman: paintings: March–April 1974''
Volume 117 of The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Yona Fischer (1981)
''Yehezkel Streichman: watercolours: Tel Aviv, Museum of Art''
Yehezkel Streichman, Museum of Art (1989)
''Yehezkel Streichman: recent work: the Open Museum, Industrial Park, Tefen, winter 1991''
Yehezkiel Streichman, Nathan Zach, Richard Flantz, Avraham Hai, Muzeon ha-patuah (Migdal Tefen), Open Museum – Tefen Industrial Park (1991)
''Streichman''
Yona Fischer, Yehezkel Streichman, Israel Phoenix and Yehezkel Streichman Estate (1997)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Streichman, Yehezkel 1906 births 1993 deaths Lithuanian Jews 20th-century Israeli Jews Lithuanian emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Israeli artists Israeli painters Artists from Kaunas Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design alumni Israel Prize in painting recipients Sandberg Prize recipients Hashomer Hatzair members