Gabriel (Joseph) Talphir (1901–1990) was an Israeli poet, art critic, publisher, editor and translator.

Biography

Gabriel Talphir was born as Joseph Wundermann in Stanislaw, Galicia, then ruled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. When World War I broke out, he was sent to study at a Jewish high school in Vienna. Later he studied at art at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hist ...

and taught at several Jewish schools in

Vilna Vilnius ( , ; see also #Etymology and other names, other names) is the capital and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the munic ...

Zamość Zamość (; yi, זאמאשטש, Zamoshtsh; la, Zamoscia) is a historical city in southeastern Poland. It is situated in the southern part of Lublin Voivodeship, about from Lublin, from Warsaw. In 2021, the population of Zamość was 62,021. ...

Lwow Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...

, and

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

. He was a member of the Zionist youth group

Hechalutz HeHalutz or HeChalutz ( he, הֶחָלוּץ, lit. "The Pioneer") was a Jewish youth movement that trained young people for agricultural settlement in the Land of Israel. It became an umbrella organization of the pioneering Zionist youth moveme ...

and immigrated to Palestine in 1925.Gabriel Talphir, The Israel Museum
/ref> In 1924, Talphir published his first poems in Polish Jewish periodicals. Later, he included them in his collection of verse, ''Three Poems.'' His most well-known poems are ''Legion'' (1925), ''Jazz Band'', a rhythmic poem (1927), ''Hunger'' (1928), and ''The Scattered Manifest'' (1928). Talphir also wrote and published art criticism. In 1932, he founded ''Gazith'', a journal on arts and culture. For years, " Gazith" was the only Jewish periodical dedicated to the plastic arts. He edited the journal with the help of his wife Miriam. Gazith published prose, poetry, essays, reviews and illustrations of art and architecture. Of the essays published during its first year, a third were dedicated to visual art. Most were about European Jewish artists, among them Liebermann, Menkes, Mintchine, Modigliani,

Pascin Julius Mordecai Pincas (March 31, 1885 – June 5, 1930), known as Pascin (; erroneously or ), Jules Pascin, or the "Prince of Montparnasse", was a Bulgarian artist known for his paintings and drawings. He later became an American citizen ...

Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( , ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but then in the Danish West Indies). H ...

Frenkel Frenkel is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Aaron G. Frenkel (born 1957), Israeli entrepreneur and philanthropist * Alexander Frenkel (born 1985), German boxer of Ukrainian origin * (1895–1984), Polish painter * Daan Frenk ...

and Soutine. In 1937, he published a large format album, ''Contemporary Jewish Painters'', which included the reproductions of 20 painters, most of whom originating from Eastern Europe, 14 Parisians among whom were

Chagall Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...

, Soutine and Modigliani and 6 from Erez Israel among whom were

, Castel, Litvinovsky, Shemi and others. On behalf of the 70-year anniversary of Gazith's establishment in

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 ...

, the head of the municipality of Tel Aviv-Yafo,

Shlomo Lahat Shlomo "Chich" Lahat ( he, שלמה להט; November 9, 1927 – October 1, 2014) was a major general in the Israel Defense Forces and former Head of the Manpower Directorate. He served as the eighth mayor of Tel Aviv in 1974–1993, for four co ...

, wrote to Talphir that he could not imagine the original artistic and cultural achievement of the city without Talphir's periodical and his dedicated work. Talphir was also a translator. Among the many books he translated were the works of

Ilya Ehrenburg Ilya Grigoryevich Ehrenburg (russian: link=no, Илья́ Григо́рьевич Эренбу́рг, ; – August 31, 1967) was a Soviet writer, revolutionary, journalist and historian. Ehrenburg was among the most prolific and notable autho ...

Ève Curie Ève Denise Curie Labouisse (; December 6, 1904 – October 22, 2007) was a French and American writer, journalist and pianist. Ève Curie was the younger daughter of Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Pierre Curie. Her sister was Irène Joliot-Curie an ...

(the daughter of

Madame Curie Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie ( , , ; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first ...

) translated with wife Miriam, and

Franz Werfel Franz Viktor Werfel (; 10 September 1890 – 26 August 1945) was an Austrian- Bohemian novelist, playwright, and poet whose career spanned World War I, the Interwar period, and World War II. He is primarily known as the author of ''The For ...

. He also edited, published and translated art books and albums.

Legacy

In 1991, on the first anniversary of his death, all his poems were re-released by Gazith. A collection of artist's portrait photographs and letters from Talphir's estate is found today at the

Information Center for Israeli Art The Information Center for Israeli Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the Israeli art in Israel. Over 12,000 artists files are housed in the Center in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. History As a research ...

in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

Biography

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading