Israel Zafrir (June 8, 1911 – December 3, 2016) was an Israeli photographer. Born to Solomon Glaser and Regine (Rifke) Baumöhl. Zafrir was one of the founding fathers of modern documentary photography in Israel.

Biography

Zafrir was born in Pidvolochysk. his parents were Solomon Glaser and Regine Rifke Baumöhl. The family moved to Vienna in 1913 where they lived in

Ottakring Ottakring () is the 16th District in the city of Vienna, Austria (german: 16. Bezirk, Ottakring). It is located west of the central districts, north of Penzing and south of Hernals. Ottakring has some heavily populated urban areas with many resid ...

. He arrived to British Palestine in 1935. He and his wife Georgette were residents of

Bat Yam Bat Yam ( he, בַּת יָם or ) is a city located on Israel's Mediterranean Sea coast, on the Central Coastal Plain just south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan area and the Tel Aviv District. In 2020, it had a population ...

. They divorced very late in life (both were in their 80s).

Photography career

From the 1950s, Zafrir documented works of art for artists and museums in Israel. These photographs were published in catalogs and books on art history, such as ''Art in Israel'' (1965) by art critic Ran Shechori. Zafrir photographed the works of many prominent artists including members of the New Horizons ("Ofakim Hadashim") group, Yosef Zaritsky,

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 ...

and Yechiel Shemi. In the 1960s, Zafrir held a number of exhibits featuring his photographs of monuments and statues. In May 1960 he exhibited at Yad Lebanim in

Petach Tikva Petah Tikva ( he, פֶּתַח תִּקְוָה, , ), also known as ''Em HaMoshavot'' (), is a city in the Central District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv. It was founded in 1878, mainly by Haredi Jews of the Old Yishuv, and became a permanent s ...

, and in September 1966, at the Youth Center of the Workers Association in

Ramla Ramla or Ramle ( he, רַמְלָה, ''Ramlā''; ar, الرملة, ''ar-Ramleh'') is a city in the Central District of Israel. Today, Ramle is one of Israel's mixed cities, with both a significant Jewish and Arab populations. The city was f ...

. Zafrir donated his photography collection to the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. The Israel Zafrir Photographer Archive is housed at the museum's

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 ...

. It contains some 20,000 negatives, positives and slides documenting the work of many of the leading Israeli artists of the mid- and late-twentieth century. Most of the collection consists of black and white photographs, although some are in color. The Information Center is digitizing and cataloging the collection to make the images more accessible as a joint project of the Judaica Division of the Harvard Library and the Israel Museum.Harvard International Collaborations
presented at Eva / Minerva, Jerusalem November 2014

Gallery

File:Zeev_ben-zvi-meskin.jpg, Portrait of

Aharon Meskin Aharon Meskin ( he, אהרן מסקין, 1898–1974) was an Israeli stage actor. Biography Aharon Meskin was born in 1898 in Mogilev in the Russian Empire (now in Belarus). His parents were Moshe Meskin and Rashel Chasanov. Following the Russian ...

by sculptor Zeev Ben-Zvi File:Zafrir_Zarizky_001.jpg, Photo portrait of artist

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 ...

File:Zafrir ofakim 002.jpg, The 9th New Horizons ("Ofakim Hadashim") exhibition, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, April 1959

Published works

* Jacques Loutchansky. ''Sculptures''. 1957 (Hebrew) * Aaron Priver. ''Sculptures ''. Photography, Israel Zafrir. Tel Aviv: Y. Chechick, 1959 (Hebrew) * Oren Baruch. ''Stories of Ahad Ha'm''. Photography, Israel Zafrir. Tel Aviv: Yad LeBanim emorial Hall for Fallen Soldiers1960 (Hebrew) * Arie Resnik. ''Selected Works 1942–1962 – Sculptures''. 1963 (Hebrew) * Benjamin Tammuz & Max Wykes-Joyce, eds. ''Art in Israel''. Tel Aviv: Massada Publishing (Hebrew) 1963; English, 1965. * ''Israel: VIII Sao Paulo Biennale 1965''. Photography, Israel Zafrir. Tel Aviv: United Artists, 1965 (Hebrew) * ''Israel: XXXIII Venice Biennale 1966''. Photography, Israel Zafrir. Jerusalem: Ministry of Education 1966 (Hebrew) * ''David Meshulam: Paintings, 1960–1968''. Photography, Israel Zafrir and Ran Erde. Tel Aviv: Z. Reuben, 1969. (Hebrew) * Moshe Levine. ''The Tabernacle: Its Structure and Utensils''. Photography, Israel Zafrir. Melechet Hamiskan, 1969 * Nachum Gutman. ''City of Sand and Sea – Mosaic History of Tel Aviv – Jaffa''. Photography, Israel Zafrir. Ramat Gan: Massada, 1979 * Ran Shechori. ''Art in Israel''. Photography, Israel Zafrir. Tel Aviv: Sadan Publishing, 1974. * Ehud Ben Ezer. ''Nahum Gutman''. Givataim: Masada, 1984 * Mirah Vikselbaum. ''In two stages – Poems and photographs of sculptures''. Photography, Israel Zafrir. Tel Aviv: Akad, 1985 (Hebrew) * Elisheva Cohen. ''Anna Ticho'' Photography, Israel Zafrir. Jerusalem: The National Council for Culture and the Arts, 1986 (Hebrew) * Mirah Vikselbaum. ''Heads of a Woman''. Photography, Israel Zafrir. Tel Aviv: Akad, 1986 (Hebrew) * Miriam Or. ''Sioma Baram: His Art''. Photography, Israel Zafrir. Tel Aviv: Arieli Press, 1986. (Hebrew) * Ariella Epstein. ''B. Lishansky''. Photography, Israel Zafrir. Tel Aviv: MOD Publishing, 1988. (Hebrew) * Ruth Horam. ''Ruth Horam, Paintings''. Photography, Israel Zafrir. Tel Aviv: R. Horam Sabinsky Press, 1992. * Daṿid Toren. ''She Threw Herself from the Window''. Poems illustrated with sculptures by Mirah Vikselbaum photographed by Israel Zafrir. Tel Aviv: Akad, 1992 (Hebrew) * Genia Berger. ''Works for the Theatre''. 1994 * ''Yosl Bergner, A Retrospective''. Exhibition catalogue. 2000 * Yona Fischer, ed. ''Jacob Zim''. Photography, Israel Zafrir and Ran Erde. Tel Aviv: IQ. 2003

References

External links