The Haifa Museum of Art ( he, מוזיאון חיפה לאמנות, ar, متحف حيفا للفنون), established in 1951, is located in a historic building built in the 1930s in Wadi Nisnas, downtown

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

. Ranking as Israel's third largest art museum, the museum focuses on

Israeli Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli (b ...

and international

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic ...

, and its collection includes 7,000 items, mostly of contemporary Israeli art.

History

The Haifa Museum of Art was founded in 1951 in Haifa for a large exhibition of

Marc 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 ...

. The museum was moved to it current stone building in Wadi Nisnas in 1977.

Building

The building was built in the late 1920s and was inaugurated in the early 1930s as an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...

school for girls. After the establishment of the State of Israel, it served as an immigrant center and from the early 1950s it hosted the private high school called the "High School for the Children of Workers", which was run by a teachers' cooperative and belonged to the Workers Movement. At the end of the 1960s, a branch of the Histadrut "Mishlav" school, which was preparing adult students for matriculation exams, began operating in the afternoon. In 1978 the site was opened to the public as a municipal museum, after extensive renovation designed to prepare exhibition spaces and galleries.

Permanent collection

The permanent collection includes works of

Joseph Zaritsky Joseph (Yossef) Zaritsky ( he, יוסף זריצקי; September 1, 1891 – November 30, 1985) was one of the early promoters of modern art in the Land of Israel both during the period of the Yishuv (the body of Jewish residents in the Land of Isr ...

, Mordechai Ardon, Lea Nikel, Raffi Lavie, Moshe Gershuni, Michal Na'aman,

Pinchas Cohen Gan Pinchas Cohen Gan ( he, פנחס כהן גן) (born November 3, 1942) is an Israeli painter and mixed-media artist. He was awarded the Sandberg Prize (1979), the Culture and Sport Ministry's prize for his life's work (2005), and the Israel Prize ...

, Tsibi Geva,

Yechiel Shemi Yechiel Shemi ( he, יחיאל שמי ) (1922-2003) was an Israeli sculptor. His environmental sculptures are displayed in open spaces around the country. Biography Yechiel Stizberg (later Shemi), was born to Moshe and Esther Stizberg. When he w ...

Yitzhak Danziger Yitzhak Danziger ( he, יצחק דנציגר; 26 June 1916 – 11 July 1977) was an Israeli sculptor. He was one of the pioneer sculptors of the Canaanite Movement, and later joined the "Ofakim Hadashim" (New Horizons) group. Early life ...

David Adika David Adika is an Israeli photographer and educator. Biography David Adika (דוד עדיקא) was born in Jerusalem in 1970. He lives and works in Tel Aviv. Adika graduated from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in 1997, receiving BFA. He r ...

, Igor Zeiger, Ranan Lurie,

Honoré Daumier Honoré-Victorin Daumier (; February 26, 1808February 10, 1879) was a French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, whose many works offer commentary on the social and political life in France, from the Revolution of 1830 to the fall of the second N ...

Odilon Redon Odilon Redon (born Bertrand Redon; ; 20 April 18406 July 1916) was a French symbolist painter, printmaker, draughtsman and pastellist. Early in his career, both before and after fighting in the Franco-Prussian War, he worked almost exclusivel ...

Chana Orloff Chana Orloff ( he, חנה אורלוף; 12 July 1888 – 16 December 1968) was Ukrainian-born Israeli Art deco and figurative art sculptor. Biography Chana Orloff was born in Starokonstantinov Russian Empire (now Ukraine). She immigrated to ...

and

André Masson André-Aimé-René Masson (4 January 1896 – 28 October 1987) was a French artist. Biography Masson was born in Balagny-sur-Thérain, Oise, but when he was eight his father's work took the family first briefly to Lille and then to Brussel ...

Gallery

Yanobe Sun Child Haifa 090912 07.jpg,

Kenji Yanobe Kenji Yanobe (ヤノベケンジ ''Yanobe Kenji'') is a Japanese contemporary artist known for his upbeat yet dystopian artwork. His sculpture simulates consumer products designed for survival after a nuclear holocaust. He is a professor at Ky ...

's "Sun Child" outside the Haifa Museum of Art, part of the "Double Vision" exhibition of contemporary Japanese art The Burning Bush (1959) by Ithak Danziger.jpg, The Burning Bush (1959) by Ithak Danziger

Haifa Museums conglomerate

Other institutions under the auspices of the Haifa Museums include the Mané Catz Museum dedicated to paintings from the

School of Paris The School of Paris (french: École de Paris) refers to the French and émigré artists who worked in Paris in the first half of the 20th century. The School of Paris was not a single art movement or institution, but refers to the importan ...

and Jewish artifacts; and the City Museum of Haifan History, located in the Germany Colony. The Museum of Ancient Art, housed in the

university of Haifa The University of Haifa ( he, אוניברסיטת חיפה Arabic: جامعة حيفا) is a university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation in 1972, becoming ...

, which specializes in archaeological finds discovered in Israel and the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

basin, was inaugurated in 1984. Also under the Museum's aegis are the Museum of Prehistory, the Israeli National Maritime Museum, the

Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art The Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art is a museum on the crest of Mount Carmel, in Haifa, Israel, dedicated to the preservation and exhibition of Japanese art. It is the only such museum in the Middle East. It was established in 1959 on the initiative ...

and latest addition is Hermann Struck Museum, opened in 2013.

Controversies

Ronald McDonald

Haifa Museum of Art came under scrutiny by exhibiting a statue depicting

Ronald McDonald Ronald McDonald is a clown character used as the primary mascot of the McDonald's fast-food restaurant chain. He inhabits the fictional world of McDonaldland, with his friends Mayor McCheese, the Hamburglar, Grimace, Birdie the Early Bird and ...

and called 'McJesus', reminiscenting of Jesus Christ on the Cross. The protests and calls for its removal were reported by Israeli and International media. The protests started with demonstration by

's Arab Christian community, who tried to entered the museum and remove the sculpture. The museum was firebombed twice between 10 and 11 January while rioting local Christians threw stones at the police outside the museum and injured three officers.

References

External links

Haifa Museum of art

The HFA Museums
in haifamuseums.org {{Coord, 32, 49, 19.6, N, 34, 59, 31.98, E, display=title Museums in Haifa Art museums and galleries in Israel Museums established in 1951 1951 establishments in Israel