ISRAELI ART MAKES ITS FIRST APPEARANCE AT BONHAMS LONDON
Bonhams will hold their inaugural sale of modern and contemporary Israeli Art and Judaica in their New Bond Street saleroom on May 24, the only auction of its kind in the UK.
Giles Peppiatt, Head of Israeli Art at Bonhams, comments: “The market for modern and contemporary Israeli & Judaica Art has shown exceptional growth and strength in recent years. The sale will provide an impressive showcase of works of the highest quality. Interest from both private collectors and museums internationally ensures that this event will be an exciting new venture for Bonhams. The company has sold Israeli and Judaica art in the past as part of its Travel and Topographical sales but this will be a stand alone sale of this art for the first time.”
Bonhams have teamed up with an Israeli partner in this venture, the Montefiore Auction House in Tel Aviv (www.montefiore.co.il), which will help to source items for sale. Montefiore is situated in the centre of Tel Aviv, on 34 Nachmani Street, near the famous Rothschild Avenue. The Auction House holds several auctions each year at the prestigious Dan Hotel, which include both Israeli and international artworks: paintings, sculptures, photographs, graphic and paper art of past and present well-known artists.
A work by Marcel Janko, the Rumanian-born artist, one of the founders of the Dadaist (anti-artists) movement, and a contemporary of Pablo Picasso, is the top lot in Bonhams Israeli Art & Judaica in London.
The painting titled `Marseille Port’, 1933, an oil on canvas, 100 x 133cm (39 3/8 x 52 3/8in), is estimated to sell for £120,000-180,000.
Born in Romania in 1895, Janko was among the principal founders of the Dada Movement which was opposed to war, aggression and the changing world culture.
Another Israeli artistic luminary, Israel Hershberg, is also featured in this sale. His oil on canvas, Jerusalem, City Centre, 1989-90 is estimated to sell for £100,000-150,000
Hershberg was born on November 7, 1948 in a Displaced Persons camp in Linz, Austria. In 1949, he emigrated to Israel and lived there until he was nine. In 1958, he immigrated to the United States where he attended the Brooklyn Museum School, Brooklyn, New York from 1966 to 1968.
In 1972, he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York. In 1973, he received his Master of Fine Arts, State University of New York, Albany, New York. From 1973 to 1984 he was instructor of painting and drawing at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, Maryland. In 1984, he taught painting at the New York Academy of Art, New York, New York.
Israel Hershberg moved back to Israel with his wife and family in 1984. In 1991, he was awarded the Sandberg Prize for Israel Art and in 1998 the Tel Aviv Museum of Art Prize for Israel Art. The artist is the founder and director of the Jerusalem Studio School, and lives and works in Jerusalem, Israel.
