Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 10

David Rakia
Jewish Mystical Kabbalah Oil Painting Jerusalem Cityscape Hebrew Letters Judaica

c.1960's

About the Item

"Tzadik" A Surrealist oil painting of old mystical Jerusalem with Hebrew calligraphy Sight 13.25" x 19.5" ; frame: 21" x 27.25" David Rakia (1928-2012) was born in Vienna, Austria to a religious family named Shternfeld. His father was a Sofer, a Jewish ritual torah scribe. They emigrated to British mandate Palestine in 1938. He fought and was injured in the War of Independence. After the war he began studying with the artist Mordecai Ardon later joining the Bezalel school in Jerusalem where he studied under Isidor Ascheim and Yakov Eisenscher. He continued his studies at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, France where he studied painting, lithography and mural art developing a Symbolist style influenced by Surrealism. His first exhibitions were held at that time at the Musee d'art Moderne in Paris, as well as in Switzerland. Upon his return to Israel in 1960, he began a series of drawings in which Hebrew letters played a central part. His work began to include metaphysical motifs from Judaism, such as the usage of calligraphic Hebrew letters, descriptions of Jerusalem, and the like. A Kabala influenced Expressionism. A year later an extensive individual exhibition of Rakia's work was held at the Tel Aviv Museum. Following the Six Day War, Jerusalem became a central theme in the artist's work. The city, as the essence of the national destiny was concretized both realistically and symbolically, beside the archways, walls and plants, the letters had, from time to time, figurative and abstract shapes. In the seventies a new spirit filled Rakia's work, beside the previous world of shapes appear horses, in a range of hues and positions, accompanied by musical instruments. Whatever the forms and subjects may be, the reflection of light shining in the background is in all his works. Sometimes the light is green, blue or red, sometimes it is concentrated in a circle, or it appears diffuse. Light is one of the strongest expressions in Rakia's world view as it is reflected in his art. It is an ongoing attempt to touch the mystical experience and the tie between our national existence and the cosmic order around us. The forms and colors are a means of reifying the cosmic cycles of time, light and sound. Man himself appears infrequently in these works, Rakia preferring to place in them his longings to understand and to touch the wonderful system which surrounds his existence. The life and work of David Rakia have been described in the book written by Dr. Marcel L. Mendelson, which was published by 'Massada' in 1978. A book about the artist written by Dr. Gideon Ofrat titled Signs was published in 2009. Rakia's works have been displayed in over 100 individual exhibitions in museums and galleries throughout the world, and they are also to be found in important art collections. Rakia was a member of the Jewish Painters' Association, Paris, France, 1958 Select Group Exhibitions 2010 Primaries, The Bible (Beit Hatanach) Museum, Tel Aviv 2008 The First Decade Mishkan Le'omanut, Museum of Art, Kibbutz Ein Harod The Song of the Beggars: The Archetype of the Beggar in Israel Art, Beit Avi Chai, Jerusalem 2004 Salute to Jerusalem Artists, Municipal Art Gallery, Jerusalem 1994 Jerusalem Artists Creat in the Refinery in Ashdod, The Korin Maman Ashdod Museum 1985 Exposition des Artistes de Jérusalem, Grand Palais, Paris, France 1984 Sign and Symbol, Artists' House, Jerusalem 1978 künstler aus Jerusalem, Galerie Gisela Piro, Frankfurt, Germany 1972 Old and New in the Museum Collection, Yad Labanim Museum, Petach-Tikva Jacob El Hanani, Naftali Bezem, Yosl Bergner, Shraga Weil, Yossef Zaritsky, Anna Ticho, Lea Nikel, Yohanan Simon, Reuven Rubin, Reuven David Rakia, Hermann Struck, Jakob Steinhardt, Boris Schatz, and others. 1969 Art Festival, Painting & Sculpture in Israel , The Exhibition Grounds, Tel Aviv 1967 Artists in Israel for the Defense, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Helena Rubinstein Pavilion 1965 Group Exhibition, Nora Art Gallery, Jerusalem 1963, 1965 Central Exhibition, Art in Israel, Tel Aviv Art Museum 1962 Spring Exhibition - Jerusalem Artists, Artists' House, Jerusalem Select Solo Exhibitions 1957 Artists’ House, Jerusalem 1958 The Jewish Center, Zurich, Switzerland 1960 Rakiah, Comedy Gallery, London, England Recent Paintings, Rina Gallery, Jerusalem “Rakiah – Peintures”, Galerie Loujetzky, The Hague, Netherlands 1961 Exhibition of Paintings, Tel Aviv Art Museum 1962 Gouache paintings, Nora Art Gallery, Jerusalem 1964 David Rakia, Woodstock Gallery, London Oil Paintings and Gouaches, Nora Art Gallery, Jerusalem 1966 Exhibition of Paintings, ZOA House, Tel Aviv 1967 The Anne Frank House, Amsterdam 1976 Oil Paintings and Tapestry, Arta Gallery, Jerusalem 1977 Paintings, Graphics, Tapestries, Artists' House, Jerusalem 1979 “Legends of letters“, Museum Ha Aretz, Tel-Aviv 1989 “Exhibition of lithograph and linoleum cuts, Paris 1956-1959 “The Jerusalem Theatre 1999 Jerusalem Theatre, Jerusalem 2003 The Synagogue in Middelburg, Holland 2017 “Rakia's Windows “, Heichal Shlomo - The Wolfson Museum of Jewish Art, Jerusalem
  • Creator:
    David Rakia (1928 - 2012)
  • Creation Year:
    c.1960's
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 21 in (53.34 cm)Width: 27.25 in (69.22 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    good. minor waving to canvas. minor wear commensurate with age. please see photos. strip frame has wear.
  • Gallery Location:
    Surfside, FL
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU3828709332
More From This SellerView All
  • 1970's Mod Surrealist Day Glo Fluorescent Acrylic Painting J. James Akston
    Located in Surfside, FL
    J. James Akston Surrealism, Village scene (Mexico) Acrylic on Board Frame: 15 X 18 Image: 9 X 12 Joseph James Akston was a Polish American sculptor, painter, known for surrealist ab...
    Category

    1970s Surrealist Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Acrylic

  • Large Hudson River Figurative Modernist Landscape Oil Painting Edward Avedisian
    By Edward Avedisian
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Edward Avedisian ( 1936-2007 ) Gouache or oil on paper, 3 guys around a car, hand signed in paint lower left, Measures 30"x 22.5" Edward Avedisian (June 15, 1936, Lowell, Massachusetts – August 17, 2007, Philmont, New York) was an American abstract painter who came into prominence during the 1960s. His work was initially associated with Color field painting and in the late 1960s with Lyrical Abstraction and Abstract Expressionism. He studied art at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. By the late 1950s he moved to New York City. Between 1958 and 1963 Avedisian had six solo shows in New York. In 1958 he initially showed at the Hansa Gallery, then he had three shows at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery and in 1962 and 1963 at the Robert Elkon Gallery. He continued to show at the Robert Elkon Gallery almost every year until 1975. During the 1960s his work was broadly visible in the contemporary art world. He joined the dynamic art scene in Greenwich Village, frequenting the Cedar Tavern on Tenth Street, associating with the critic Clement Greenberg, and joining a new generation of abstract artists, such as Darby Bannard, Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, and Larry Poons. Avedisian was among the leading figures to emerge in the New York art world during the 1960s. An artist who mixed the hot colors of Pop Art with the cool, more analytical qualities of Color Field painting, he was instrumental in the exploration of new abstract methods to examine the primacy of optical experience. One of his paintings was appeared on the cover of Artforum, in 1969, his work was included in the 1965 Op Art The Responsive Eye exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art and in four annuals at the Whitney Museum of American Art. His paintings were widely sought after by collectors and acquired by major museums in New York and elsewhere. He has been exhibited in prominent galleries, such as the Anita Shapolsky Gallery and the Berry Campbell Gallery in New York City. Edward Avedisian was known for his brightly colored, boldly composed canvases that combined Minimalism's rigor, Pop art exuberance and the saturated tones of Color Field painting. Roberta Smith of the NYT writes of Avedesian: "Edward Avedisian helped establish the hotly colored, but emotionally cool, abstract painting that succeeded Abstract Expressionism in the early 1960s. This young luminary harnessed elements of minimalism, pop, and color field painting to create prominent works of epic proportions that energized the New York art scene of the time." In 1996 Avedisian showed his paintings from the 1960s at the Mitchell Algus Gallery, then in SoHo. His last show, dominated by recent landscapes, was in 2003 at the Algus gallery, now in Chelsea. Selected Exhibitions: Op Art: The Responsive Eye, at the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum’s Young America 1965 Expo 67, held in Montreal, Canada. Six Painters (along with Darby Bannard, Dan Christensen, Ron Davis...
    Category

    20th Century American Modern Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Gouache, Archival Paper

  • Abstract Landscape "Storm" Oil Painting British Artist David Leverett
    By David Leverett
    Located in Surfside, FL
    David Leverett (British, B. 1938) Storm. signed lower right. Provenance: Merrill Chase Galleries, Chicago 22" x 29.5" Frame: 28.25" x 35.5" DAVID LEVERETT British, born 1938 Known for his abstracts in acrylic as well as for his collages, David Leverett studied at Nottingham College of Art, 1957-61, and at the Royal Academy Schools from 1961-64. David Leverett was working as a designer and scenic design assistant before painting and teaching from 1965. In 1966 he had the first of a series of shows at the Redfern Gallery, London. David Leverett has taught widely in England and abroad and he was a Visiting Artist at the Royal Academy Schools, the Royal College of Art and at Hornsey College of Art, London. David Leverett has participated in many significant exhibitions including: 1966, Young Contemporaries 1967, John Moores Liverpool Exhibition 1968, Britain Painting and Sculpture, Whitechapel Art Gallery...
    Category

    20th Century Abstract Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Paper, Oil, Board

  • Lyrical Abstract Israeli Expressionist Oil Painting
    By Hanna Ben Dov
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Hanna Ben Dov is an Israeli abstract painter who was born in Jerusalem in 1919 and died in Paris in 2008. Ben Dov's father, Yacov Ben-Dov, was a famous Israeli photographer who founded the photography department in the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in 1910. Hannah herself attended Bezalel during the 1940s, and later continued to Camberwell College of Arts in London. After the completion of her formal education she moved to Paris, where she exhibited for the first time in 1948 and has been living and working there since, as a part of the local abstract artists school. She took part in the first French Biennale of 1951, that was held in Menton. Collections Her paintings can be found in several collections, including the French State Collection, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art collection, the Bezalel National Museum collection in Jerusalem and the Rockefeller Museum collection in New York. Ben Dov resided for her last two years at the Maison Des Artistes Home in Nogent-Sur-Marne, France, just outside Paris. Exhibitions Gallery97 Tel Aviv Paintings...
    Category

    20th Century Modern Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • Abstract Expressionist Landscape Israeli Modernist Oil Painting, Moody Blue
    By Shimon Avny
    Located in Surfside, FL
    Shimon Avni Shimon Avny, painter, born 1932, Paris Shimon Avny (Stein) was born in Paris, France. He grew up in the Belville neighborhood. In 1942, when the Nazis occupied France, he was separated from his family. His mother and brothers were killed in the Holocaust. After the war, he was transferred from his hiding place to the town of Andlis. He immigrated to Israel with Youth Aliyah in 1948. In 1956, he joined Kibbutz Ra'im. In 1957, he studied painting with Joseph Zaritsky, Avigdor Stematzky and Haim Kiewe. He also studied with Yehezekel Streichman at the Avni Institute. At the end of the 1950s, he went to Paris to continue his studies. In the 1980s, he joined the Radius artists cooperative. Avny's early work was influenced by the abstractionism of the New Horizons group. In 1963, he took part in the group's exhibition at Ein Harod. His work is characterized by bold colors, expressive brushstrokes and flat planes. He is a figurative painter, but some of his work incorporates symbolic imagery. Education 1957 Painting with Joseph Zaritsky, Avigdor Stematsky and Haim Kiewe Avni Institute, Tel Aviv, with Yehezkel Streichman Grande Chaumiere Academy, Paris, 1958 Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris, 1961 Fine Arts Academy, Rome Photography and television, Paris, 1965-67 Teaching Lectured abroad for the Ministry of Education and Culture, 1969-71 Bezalel Academy, Jerusalem, painting, 1974-78 College of Visual Arts, Beersheba, 1975-81 Headmaster of the Art Institute, Rehovot, 1975-85 1981-85 and 1988-92 Art Teachers College, Ramat Hasharon Since1992 Avni Institute, Tel Aviv, Teacher and coordinator of the Arts Department Awards And Prizes 1975 The America-Israel Cultural Fund Scholarship 1985 Scholarship, The Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France 1993 The America-Israel Cultural Foundation, Sharett Fund Scholarship for a Young Artist. A member of the Aclim Group, which was organized in 1974. The group was established in the wake of the Yom Kippur War to point to the necessity of raising the public's consciousness of its Israeli identity in all cultural spheres. Participants in the group's exhibitions until 1983 were: Eliyahu Gat, Rahel Shavit, Ori Reisman, Avram Rafael, Michael Gross, Hannah Levy...
    Category

    Mid-20th Century Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Jute, Oil

  • Modernist Oil Painting Bucolic Valley Woods Landscape Ralph Della Volpe
    Located in Surfside, FL
    RALPH DELLA-VOLPE (1923-2017) Fine Art Painter, American Contemporary The Valley Oil on canvas Hand signed lower left and again to stretcher and verso 16 x 20 inches. frame dimensions: 22 1/4 x 26 inches, wood frame Provenance: The Estate of the artist Ralph Della Volpe TRAINING: National Academy of Design The Art Students League, NYC Ralph Eugene Della-Volpe's semi-abstract paintings of often simplified, minimalist, beach scenes and anonymous portraits "convey profound awareness of mood and character", and his paintings are hardly as literal as they may first appear (Arts Magazine. "New York Exhibitions". 1965). His brightly-colored, light-infused, ornamental compositions bring together aspects of many modernist art movements including Fauvism, Impressionism, Symbolism, and abstraction. Della-Volpe first studied painting at the prestigious National Academy of Design before joining the Army during World War II. As a soldier, the artist saw action on Utah Beach, winning a Purple Heart, and his experiences undoubtedly affected his later artistic style. The Fauvist "coloristic exuberance" found in the works beginning in the mid 1960's, with their vibrant fuschias and yellows, seem to offset what could be an otherwise solemn tone to many of his works at the time. Upon his return from military service, Della-Volpe’s style evolved significantly. In the years following the second world war, his work was solemn, imbued with a quiet darkness. Over time, this darkness faded: by the 1950s, influenced by his time at the Art Students League, his oeuvre was overtaken by the tenants of Abstract Expressionism. Paintings from this period boast bold brushwork, energetic compositions, and strong color. Although the next decade saw Della-Volpe trade expressionist abstraction for figuration, his love of color continued to shine through his work.Della-Volpe took a teaching position as the first artist-in-residence at Bennett College in Millbrook, New York where he remained for 28 years, serving as chairman of the Art Department for most of that time. Obviously influenced by impressionism 's preoccupation with the treatment of light, Della-Volpe's own works have a "faultless tonal quality, with its sense of failing light—the areas of silvery gray deepening into rosy tans" (Arts Magazine. "In the Galleries". 1960). Della-Volpe has exhibited widely throughout his career and has lectured on art at colleges, universities, and galleries across the country. SOLO SHOWS: Hotchkiss Library, Sharon, Conn Millbrook Library, Millbrook,NY Gregory James Gallery...
    Category

    20th Century Fauvist Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

You May Also Like

Recently Viewed

View All