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June 29, 2012
Have a Rubin? Ardon?
A Sotheby’s official seeks Israeli art in Canada.
SHELDON KIRSHNER CANADIAN JEWISH NEWS
Israeli art is on the ascendancy in the international marketplace, according to Sotheby’s auction house senior vice-president Jennifer Roth. “There has been a tremendous growth in appreciation of contemporary Israeli art in the last few years,” she said.
Roth, who organizes the annual Israel art and Judaica sales in New York and serves on the board of Sotheby’s Tel Aviv branch, was in Toronto from June 19 to 21.
She was there to find “hidden Israeli art treasures in Canadian collections” and, under the sponsorship of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, gave a talk on the development of Israeli art from the founding of the Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem in 1906 to the present day.
“In recent years, Israeli art has exploded on the global scene,” said Roth, when she was in Israel earlier this month. “More and more young Israeli artists are appearing at biennials and curated exhibitions.”
She added, “At the same time, there is growing competition for classic Israeli art of earlier periods, from the 1920s to the 1970s, both from Israelis and international collectors. It’s not on the scale of Chinese art but, given Israel’s population, there is what I would call a mini boom in Israeli art.”
The boom began about a decade ago, she noted. “Around this time, Israeli artists like Guy Ben Ner starting showing up in prestigious master’s programs, and Bezalel launched its own master’s program.”
As well, she said, more Israeli galleries opened and some started taking booths in international fairs.
At auctions today, the most popular Israeli works are by masters such as Reuven Rubin and Mordecai Ardon, whose paintings have fetched sums well over six figures. An Ardon was sold for more than $1 million to a Japanese museum, and Michal Rovner, a contemporary artist, sold an installation for more than $800,000 just a few years ago. Meanwhile, the photographer Adi Nes sold a work, based on Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” for more than $250,000.
Israeli art has passed through several thematic phases, she said.
“The early artists dealt with Zionism and the land and life in pre-and post-independent Israel. The New Horizons group of the late 1940s and 1950s consisted of purely abstract painters who no longer felt obligated to deal with the Zionist narrative.”
By contrast, contemporary artists are extremely varied.
“Some are quite obviously political, and others less so. Many deal with the issues of war, security, borders,” said Roth.
Israelis are particularly strong in photography and video art and tend to be highly experimental in the use of media and technology.
As for her search of Israeli art in Canadian attics, Roth said, “Some of our parents and grandparents traveled to Israel in the 1950s and 1960s and brought works by Rubin and Ardon from blue-chip dealers, not the sort of kitschy stuff one sees in tourist shops.”
For more information, e-mail [email protected].
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