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Press Releases
January 8, 2001
Drawn from public and private collections in Israel, Europe, and the US, the exhibition traces Kupferman's artistic development from the time of the birth of the State of Israel until today. Born in Poland in 1926, Kupferman spent World War II in the Ural and Kazakhstan internment camps. The only member of his family to survive, he emigrated to Israel in 1948 and helped establish Kibbutz Lohamei Hagetaot (Ghetto Fighters' Kibbutz), where he continues to live and work today. Largely self-taught, Kupferman began to paint at the kibbutz while working on its construction. His experience as a Holocaust survivor and his enduring association with the kibbutz both inform and shape his work, which is characterized by a contradiction between unbridled emotion and silent restraint. He creates powerful abstract images through painting and then wiping layers, thus creating dialectic between expressive drama and controlled introspection. Kupferman held his first museum exhibition at the Israel Museum in 1969, which was followed by another in 1984. Major exhibitions of Kupferman's work have also been held at the Stedljik Musuem, Amsterdam (1984); the National Museum of Modern Art, Paris (1984); The North Carolina Museum of Art (1991); The Tel Aviv Museum (1998); The Jewish Museum of History and Art in Paris (1984); and the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh (1999-2000). His work appears in the public collections of the Guggenheim Museum, NY; the British Museum, London; the Musee national d'art, Paris; among others. The exhibition displays Kupferman's body of works as an "open creation", deviating from the commonly accepted framework of a retrospective by breaking up the chronology of Kupferman's works so that they can be presented in groups according to their relationships--how they complement, complete, and contradict one another. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully-illustrated, 300-page catalogue including over 100 color reproductions and new interpretations of Kupferman's work. James Snyder, director of the Israel Museum, states: "The Israel Museum is proud to begin 2002 with this retrospective exhibition of the work of Moshe Kupferman, inaugurating a year in which we celebrate significant achievements of Israeli Art through the works of several of the most important Israeli artists of our time. Especially in these times, it is vital to recognize Israel's continuing artistic and creative strength." The exhibition is made possible through the generosity of The Gottesman Family Foundation, Tel Aviv; The Nash Family Foundation, New York; Kibbutz Lohamei Haghetaot; Gabi Brown, Tel Aviv; Israel National Lottery Council for the Visual Arts; The Jerusalem Center for the Visual Arts; Joseph Hackmey, the Israel Phoenix; Rivka Shabtay, Jerusalem. ON THE MAP: CARTOGRAPHIC IMAGES OF THE HOLY
LAND OPENING: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2001, 6:30 PM A cradle for Judaism and Christianity, the Land of Israel boasts the longest unbroken chain of graphic representations in the world. ON THE MAP: CARTOGRAPHIC IMAGES OF THE HOLY LAND, a new exhibition at the Israel Museum, is the first exhibition to group together representations of the Holy Land from antiquity up until modern times, thereby tracing the development of religious, scientific and artistic thought over the last two millennia. Drawn from the Museum's own collection and major public and private collections in Israel and abroad, the exhibit features over 100 original and facsimile cartographic depictions by Jewish, Christian and Muslim pilgrims, scholars, clergy and scientists from the past 2000 years. The maps are remarkable not only for the religious and geopolitical world they draw, but also for their artistry and beauty. The maps range from a replica of a 6th century Madaba mosaic map, to original drawings based on medieval Biblical commentaries, to maps drawn at the 1977 Camp David accords and maps of the PLO. Particularly noteworthy are a woodcut map by Lucas Chranach the Elder; an influential map drawn by the Franciscan monk, Antonio de Angelis de Lecce in 1578; a woodcut map after Ptolemy, who is considered one of the founders of the science of cartography; and an Italian atlas produced for the illustrious Medici family. Even until today, the map of the Holy Land has been the subject of fascination and controversy, reflecting the religious and political outlook, as well as the scientific and aesthetic sensibilities, of the mapmakers and the society in which they lived. The common feature of the ancient maps was their intention to make concrete the events described in the Holy Scriptures. Initially these maps were historical in nature rather than practical, and they provided cartographers with an opportunity to experiment artistically with techniques, styles, design and cartographic symbols. Maps reflect not only the history of culture, but also the history of science. Maps were based on the astronomical observation and measurement tools of the era in which they were created. As measurement and printing tools and knowledge of the globe advanced, so did the accuracy and precision of the maps. The use of satellite imaging and computers attests to the incredible advances humanity has made since the first attempt to map the world and, specifically, the Land of Israel. The curator of the exhibition is Ariel Tishby of the Norman Bier Section for Maps of the Holy Land in the Department of Prints and Drawings at the Israel Museum. The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated book, Holy Land in Maps (printed in Hebrew and English). October 25, 2001 "CONSCIOUS, SIMPLE-CONSCIOUSLY
SIMPLE" JERUSALEM, October 2001 - The largest exhibition on German design ever to be held in Israel, "Conscious, Simple-Consciously Simple", presenting an alternative approach to design that emerged in Germany in the mid-1980's, opens at the Israel Museum on Thursday, October 25, 2001. The new exhibition, organized jointly with ifa (Institute fur Auslandsbeziehungen-Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations), includes 100 works by 60 designers which represent various trends in contemporary German design. The works represent different trends emerged in the field of furniture and furnishing accessories design in the mid-1980's in response to the popular debate regarding the relationship between design and ecology. The exhibition, which consists mainly of furniture and furnishing accessories, as well as complementary materials such as photographs of production processes and assembly instructions, illustrates the designers' various strategies in achieving a consciously simple, and in the widest sense ecological, design and composition. Among the works are an array of chairs, tables and shelves that fold, expand and turn-over to achieve multi-purpose and more effieicent use. Until the 1980's, design was defined primarily by utilitarian criteria. The works in this exhibition demonstrate a broader understanding of design in which designers also consider narrative and emotional aspects. While new designers remained attentive to demands of environmental protection (e.g. reduced energy consumption in production, natural materials, recyclability, additive assembly), they were not motivated solely by ecological concerns. The designers worked to create a design that was not only morally and aesthetically correct, but also evocative of a joie de vivre and sensory pleasure. Prof.. Voker Albus of Germany, curator of the exhibition, will be guest speaker at the opening. Opening reception courtesy of the German Embassy in Israel. Alex Ward, curator of design and architecture at the Israel Museum, is the Museum's curator in chrage. The exhibition was organized by ifa and mounted in Jerusalem in cooperation with Goethe-Institut, Israel. Additional support provided by the Association of Friends of the Israel Museum in Germany. August 14, 2001 China: One Hundred Treasures Demonstrates Strength of Cultural Ties between Israel and China 14th August - 15 January, 2001 August, 2001, Jerusalem, Israel - Leading cultural institutions in the People's Republic of China have agreed to lend a selection of their most important patrimonial treasures to the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, for an exhibition opening this month. China: One Hundred Treasures is the first exhibition of masterworks from China ever to be presented in Israel. On view from August 14, 2001, through January 15, 2002, the exhibition spans over 5,000 years of China's artistic achievement, reflecting a long tradition of skilled artisanship in jade, bronze, gold and silver, ceramic, and porcelain. The exhibition includes objects drawn from eight museums across China and has been selected to present a comprehensive overview of one of the world's oldest and most venerated non-Western cultures. More than half of the objects are drawn from among the treasures of the National Museum of Chinese History in Beijing, the main repository of China's cultural patrimony. Ranging from Neolithic (ca. 3,000 BCE) ceramics through Ming (13th-16th centuries CE) porcelains, works have been selected for their historical and art historical significance and their aesthetic achievement; and for the insights which they offer into the social and cultural developments of the times in which they were created and used. Highlights of the exhibition include: 3,000-year-old bronze vessels from the tomb of Fu Hao, the Warrior Queen; life-size terra cotta soldiers and a horse from the tomb of the First Emperor, Qin Shihuangdi in the 3rd century BCE; and a 2,000-year-old jade burial suit from the Han dynasty. Each object, and it accompanying story, offers an insight into the magnificence of the rich history of Chinese civilization.
The Israel Museum's Department of Asian Art is committed to the collection, preservation, and public display of the art of the Far East, and its activities have been responsive to the enthusiasm of the Israeli public to understand Asian cultures. This exhibition concludes several years of collaborative planning between the Museum and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage in China and Art Exhibitions China, its exhibition division. Rebecca Bitterman, Curator of the Marcel Lorber Department of Asian Art and curator of the exhibition, states: "It has been gratifying to work with colleagues in China to achieve an exhibition which demonstrates so clearly a convergence of our Department's curatorial objectives and our public's enthusiasm for in-depth knowledge of the cultures of the Far East." The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated bilingual catalogue in Hebrew and English. The opening of the exhibition in Jerusalem will be accompanied by a two-week festival of Chinese cultural programming, including presentations of traditional Chinese music, dance, and opera in a Chinese teahouse setting. Family activities including a Chinese handicraft and food fair, Tai Chi lessons, kite flying, and a Chinese film festival are also planned. The exhibition is made possible through the generosity of The Starr Foundation, New York; Judith and Gerson Leiber, New York; Renee and Robert Beningson, New York; Alice and Nahum Lainer, Los Angeles; Dalia and Erwin Eisenberg, Savyon and London; Beatrice Cummings Mayer, Chicago; The Department of Cultural and Scientific Relations, Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs; The Lady Sieff Fund for Exhibition Research, London; the Sam Weisbord Trust, Los Angeles; and El Al Airlines. The catalogue has been made possible by Toni and Oded Eliashar, Jerusalem. For more information, please contact: |
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