Zahara Schatz ( he, זהרה ש"ץ; 1916–1999), was an Israeli artist and designer. She was the daughter of

Boris Schatz Boris Schatz ( he, בוריס שץ; 23 December 1866 – 23 March 1932) was a Lithuanian Jewish artist and sculptor who settled in Israel. Schatz, who became known as the "father of Israeli art," founded the Bezalel School in Jerusalem. After ...

, who founded the

Bezalel Academy of Art and Design Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design ( he, בצלאל, אקדמיה לאמנות ועיצוב) is a public college of design and art located in Jerusalem. Established in 1906 by Jewish painter and sculptor Boris Schatz, Bezalel is Israel's oldes ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. She was best known for the six-branched menorah she designed for the entrance to the

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

, Israel's official memorial to the victims of the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

Biography

Zohara ("Zahara") Schatz was born on July 20, 1916, in

Jerusalem Sanjak The Sanjak of Jerusalem was an Ottoman administrative district, part of the Damascus Eyalet for much of its existence.Abu-Manneh (1999), pp3637. It was created in the 16th century after the 1516 Turkish conquest of Palestine,Beshara (2012), pp2 ...

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. Her father was

and her brother was artist Bezalel or "Lilik". She studied at the

École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs The École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (ÉnsAD, also known as Arts Decos', École des Arts Décoratifs) is a public grande école of art and design of PSL Research University. The school is located in the Rue d'Ulm in Paris. Profi ...

(English: National School of Decorative Arts) in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

from 1934 to 1937. As well as classes at

Académie de la Grande Chaumière The Académie de la Grande Chaumière is an art school in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France. History The school was founded in 1904 by the Catalan painter Claudio Castelucho on the rue de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, near the Acad� ...

. The Schatz children were both artists. They abandoned their father's predilection for Romantic

Classicism Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthet ...

and his search for a Jewish

Eretz Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine (see also Isra ...

-style in favor of a European-American

modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

. However Zahara followed her father's dualism: the pursuit of both fine art and crafts (or design).

Art career

After graduation Schatz moved to the United States, settling in California. She married American sculptor Elliott Franz Sandow (1910–1976). In the 1940s Schatz taught art classes at the

California Labor School The California Labor School (until 1945 named the Tom Mooney Labor School) was an educational organization in San Francisco from 1942 to 1957. Like the contemporary Jefferson School of Social Science and the New York Workers School, it represent ...

in Berkeley. She started working in plastic in the 1940s, designing and building acrylic lamps. Schatz was part of the Big Sur artists'/writers' colony that included

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

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 ...

Benny Bufano Beniamino "Bene" Bufano (October 15, 1890August 18, 1970) was an Italian American sculptor, best known for his large-scale monuments representing peace and his modernist work often featured smoothly rounded animals and relatively simple shapes ...

, author

Henry Miller Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical ref ...

, her sister-in-law Louise Schatz, and her brother Bezalel Schatz. She lived in

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, where she was close with courtroom sketch artist

Rosalie Ritz Rosalie Ritz (August 6, 1923 – April 18, 2008), born Rosalie Jane Mislove in Racine, Wisconsin, was an American journalist and courtroom artist who covered major United States trials in the 1960s through the 1990s. She worked with both CBS and ...

, her husband Erwin Ritz and their daughter, publisher and managing editor of The Environmentalist, Janet Ritz. Schatz exhibited in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. In 1951, Schatz won an award for the ''Table Lamp Model No. T-4-S'', at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. Her winning table lamp design was manufactured by the Heifez Company, the sponsor of the MoMA competition. In 1951, she returned to Israel, however she maintained a residency in Berkeley, California up until the 1970s. In 1951, Zahara Schatz, Bezalel Schatz, and her sister-in-law Louise Schatz formed a craft workshop "Yaad" located in Israel, and rooted in European-American

. In 1959, she participated in the

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 ...

of 1959 and designed the gate, built at the Bezalel Academy for Art and Design for the President's House. She worked as an adviser on industrial design at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for Israel. Schatz died of a long illness in Jerusalem on August 4, 1999, at the age of 83.

Awards and recognition

* 1951: award for a table lamp design, ''Table Lamp Model No. T-4-S'', "Low-Cost Lighting Competition/Exhibition", the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, New York City, New York * 1955: Israel Prize, for the Fine Arts Award * 1954: medal of honor, Milan Triennial (Triennale di Milano) * 1959:

Dizengoff Prize The Dizengoff Prize for Painting and Sculpture is awarded annually by the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality since 1937. Recipients The following is a table of Dizengoff Prize laureates in their respective art form: References {{reflist Israeli ...

for Sculpture * 1959: participation in the

* 1960:

Prize, for a six-branch candelabrum * 1991: Shoshanna Ish-Shalom Prize, Jerusalem

Exhibitions

* "Zahara Schatz: A Retrospective. The Third Exhibition in the Schatz House Series, celebrating 100 Years of Israeli Art," The Artists' House, Jerusalem, 2006.

References

External links

* *
Israeli Art Guide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schatz, Zahara 1916 births 1999 deaths 20th-century Israeli painters 20th-century Israeli women artists 20th-century Israeli Jews Israeli women painters Jewish painters Israel Prize in sculpture and painting recipients Israel Prize women recipients Artists from Jerusalem Artists from Berkeley, California People from Big Sur, California Jews from Mandatory Palestine Burials at Har HaMenuchot 20th-century women painters