Avraham Eilat
Encyclopedia
Avraham Eilat is an Israel
i artist
, educator and curator
. He graduated from the Hebrew Gimnasium Herzliya in Tel Aviv, and was enrolled in Hashomer Hatzair
youth movement for nine years since the age of 9 . After military service
in 1960 he joined in Kibbutz Shamir
, situated on the western slopes of the Golan Heights in the Upper Galilee
where he was a member between until 1978. During his first years in the kibbutz
, Eilat was a shepherd
side by side with his kibbutz adopting father the painter
Moshe Cagan. Close contact with nature and its phenomenon and the features of local landscape deeply influenced his way of thinking and established the themes appearing along all his career in his art. The contrast between man made geometrical shapes of fishpond
s and the free flowing of the flora and typical hilly landscape of the Hula Valley area, crystallized his visual language
and determined its formal and thematic foundations. Avraham Eilat employs skillfully various means of expression: drawing
and painting
, etching
, photography
, sculpture
, installation, and often a combination of more than one. Using those means enriches his basic statement and makes it complex and multi layered. Avraham Eilat lives in Ein Hod
Artists Village, Israel, with his spouse Margol Guttman, works in his studio in Pyramida Center of Contemporary Art, Wadi Salib
, Haifa
, and in his studio in Ein Hod.
In 1970, after participating in some exhibition in Israel and abroad, Eilat received a grant for overseas studies from the America – Israel Foundation, and studied at Martin's College] of art in London. There he worked on sculpture under Anthony Caro Anthony Caro
and at the same time began to create experimental films under the guidance of the avant-garde film maker Malcolm Le Grice.
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, educator and curator
Curator
A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...
. He graduated from the Hebrew Gimnasium Herzliya in Tel Aviv, and was enrolled in Hashomer Hatzair
Hashomer Hatzair
Hashomer Hatzair is a Socialist–Zionist youth movement founded in 1913 in Galicia, Austria-Hungary, and was also the name of the group's political party in the Yishuv in the pre-1948 British Mandate of Palestine...
youth movement for nine years since the age of 9 . After military service
Military service
Military service, in its simplest sense, is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, whether as a chosen job or as a result of an involuntary draft . Some nations require a specific amount of military service from every citizen...
in 1960 he joined in Kibbutz Shamir
Kibbutz Shamir
Shamir is a kibbutz in Upper Galilee area of Israel. Located on the western slopes of the Golan Heights, it falls under the jurisdiction of Upper Galilee Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 608.-History:...
, situated on the western slopes of the Golan Heights in the Upper Galilee
Upper Galilee
The Upper Galilee is a geographical-political term in use since the end of the Second Temple period, originally referring to a mountainous area overlapping the present northern Israel and southern Lebanon, its borders being the Litani river in the north, the Mediterranean Sea in the west, the Beit...
where he was a member between until 1978. During his first years in the kibbutz
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
, Eilat was a shepherd
Shepherd
A shepherd is a person who tends, feeds or guards flocks of sheep.- Origins :Shepherding is one of the oldest occupations, beginning some 6,000 years ago in Asia Minor. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat and especially their wool...
side by side with his kibbutz adopting father the painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
Moshe Cagan. Close contact with nature and its phenomenon and the features of local landscape deeply influenced his way of thinking and established the themes appearing along all his career in his art. The contrast between man made geometrical shapes of fishpond
Fishpond
Fishpond was the code name given to an extension to the British H2S airborne radar system fitted to Royal Air Force Avro Lancaster and Handley Page Halifax heavy bombers during World War II...
s and the free flowing of the flora and typical hilly landscape of the Hula Valley area, crystallized his visual language
Visual language
A visual language is a system of communication using visual elements. Speech as a means of communication cannot strictly be separated from the whole of human communicative activity which includes the visual and the term 'language' in relation to vision is an extension of its use to describe the...
and determined its formal and thematic foundations. Avraham Eilat employs skillfully various means of expression: drawing
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
and painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, etching
Etching
Etching is the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal...
, photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
, sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
, installation, and often a combination of more than one. Using those means enriches his basic statement and makes it complex and multi layered. Avraham Eilat lives in Ein Hod
Ein Hod
Ein Hod is a communal settlement in northern Israel. Located south of Mount Carmel and southeast of Haifa in northern Israel, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaCarmel Regional Council. In 2008 it had a population of 559....
Artists Village, Israel, with his spouse Margol Guttman, works in his studio in Pyramida Center of Contemporary Art, Wadi Salib
Wadi Salib
Wadi Salib is a neighbourhood located in the heart of Downtown Haifa, Israel, on the lower northeastern slope of Mount Carmel, between the Hadar HaCarmel and the city's historic center and CBD.-History:...
, Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
, and in his studio in Ein Hod.
- 1986 Co-founder of The Israeli Biennale of Photography, Ein HarodEin HarodEin Harod was a kibbutz in Israel. It was located in northern Israel near Mount Gilboa. It is notable for being built near the battlefield of Ayn Jalut , a battle of huge macro-historical importance where the Mongols were defeated for the first time, in 1260.-History:The kibbutz was founded by...
- 1985-1987 Head of Photography Dept. Wizo Academy of DesignWIZO Haifa Academy of Design and EducationWIZO Haifa Academy of Design and Education is a school of art located in the German Colony in Haifa, Israel. It is the leading professional and academic institution for higher education in art in northern Israel.-History:...
, Haifa, Israel - 1989-1991 Curator of photography, Haifa MuseumHaifa MuseumThe Haifa Museum of Art , established in 1951, is located in a historic building built in the 1930's in Wadi Nisnas, Downtown Haifa...
of Art, Haifa, Israel - 1994 Co-founder and chairman of Pyramida, Centre for Contemporary Art, Haifa,
- 1995-1999 Director of Pyramida Center of contemporary Art
- 2000-2001 Director and chief curator of The Israeli Museum of Photography, Tel HaiTel HaiTel Hai is the modern name of a settlement in northern Israel, the site of an early battle in the Arab–Israeli conflict, and of a noted monument, tourist attraction, and a college...
, Israel - 2003-2009 Director of Pyramida Center of Contemporary Art, Wadi Salib, Haifa
- Recently: curator of visual artsVisual artsThe visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...
for the National Maritime MuseumNational Maritime MuseumThe National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England is the leading maritime museum of the United Kingdom and may be the largest museum of its kind in the world. The historic buildings forming part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, it also incorporates the Royal Observatory, Greenwich,...
, Haifa
Art studies
Avraham Eilat's art studies started when he was 14 years old. As a young pupil at the Herzliya Gimnasium in tel Aviv he studied painting under the painter Arie Allweil who believed in his talent and invited him to stay with him and work under his guidance in the picturesque town of Zefat (summer of 1954). During the years 1962-1965, parallel to working as shepherd in Kibbutz Shamir he was a part time student in the Tel Aviv "High School of Painting", guided by the artist Arie Margoshilski , the founder and director the school. His diploma subject was "Quarry", a subject matter that kept coming up in his work in various versions through the years.. In 1966, Avraham Eilat studied in the famous "Atelier 17", Paris, an international etching studio founded and directed by the English etcher Hayter. In the workshop he met artists from different countries and became a close friend with the Japanese artist Kenji Yoshida, who in 1968 was his guest for two months in kibbutz Shamir. They kept in touch until Yoshida's death in 2009.In 1970, after participating in some exhibition in Israel and abroad, Eilat received a grant for overseas studies from the America – Israel Foundation, and studied at Martin's College] of art in London. There he worked on sculpture under Anthony Caro Anthony Caro
Anthony Caro
Sir Anthony Alfred Caro, OM, CBE is an English abstract sculptor whose work is characterised by assemblages of metal using 'found' industrial objects.-Background and early life:...
and at the same time began to create experimental films under the guidance of the avant-garde film maker Malcolm Le Grice.
Selected Awards and grants
- 2004 Israeli Ministry of education and Culture prize
- 1997 Artist in Residence, Tisch School of the Arts, NYU, New York
- 1989 "Premio Cervo", Italy
Selected Solo exhibitions
- 2010 Psychophysical Time, Gallery G-art, Istanbul, Turky
- 2009 The fear of what is suddenly too late, Galerie 21 , Cologn, Germany
- 2009 Scratchs - between drawing to photography, Wizo Academic Center. Haifa, Israel
- 2005 Psychophysical Time, galeria Wschodnia, Lodz, Poland
- 2005 The Silence of the Sea, The Mational Matitime Museum, Haifa, Israel
- 2004 Suspicious Symptoms, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel
- 2003 Mortal, Pyramida, Center for Contemporary Art, Haifa, Israel
- 2000 112 Portraits Front and Back, Galeria FF, Lodz, Poland
- 1992 From the Gut – From the Mind, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
- 1981 Structures for a Given Interior, Haifa Museum of Art, Haifa, Israel
Selected group exhibitions
- 2010 Wadi Saliv - Layers, Pyramida Center for Contemporary Art, Haifa, Israel
- 2009 Photography from Israel, Kultur Bahnhof Eller, Düsseldorf, Germany
- 2008 Twisted Reality, The Israeli Center for Digital Art, Holon, Israel
- 2008 The International Triennale of Contemporary Art, National Gallery, Prague
- 2006 Video Zero – Performing the Body, Haifa Museum of Art, Israel
- 2006 The Image of God, The Isrtael Museum, Jerusalem
- 2006 New Territories, De Hallen, Brugge, Belgium
- 2004 Video Zero – Towards Cinema, Haifa Museum Of Art, Israel
- 2003 Video Zero – Communication Interference, Haifa Museum of Art, Israel
- 2001 Jewish Artists on the Edgde, Yeshiva University Museum, New York, USA
- 1999 1st International Triennale of Installations, Haifa Museum of Art, Israel
- 1998 Milestones – Israeli Sculpture 1948-1998, The Open Museum, Tefen, Israel
- 1998 The Bridge, International art event, Melbourne, Australia
- 1987 Vom Landschaftsbild zur Spurensicherung, Ludwig Museum, Cologne,Germany
Catalogues & Books
- Fear, Artist Book, Jerusalem Print Workshop, Jerusalem, Israel
- The Silence of The Sea, catalogue recording exhibition at the National Maritime Museum, Haifa, Israel, texts by Joshua Sobol *and Avraham Eilat, 2006
- Suspicious Symptoms, catalogue, text by Shlomit Shaked, The Tel Aviv Museum of Art,Tel Aviv, 2004
- Mortal, catalogue, text by Carole Naggar, Pyramida Center for Art, Haifa, 2003
- The Armchair, artist book, text by J.Sobol, a numbered edition of 120 copies,2002
- 112 Portraits Front & Back, catalogue, Galeria FF, Lodz, Poland, 2000
- Hieroglyphics of Reality, catalogue, texts by J.Sobol & A.Eilat, Tel Aviv, 1996
- From the Gut – From the Mind, catalogue, texts by Y. Safran, M.Perry-Lehman and
- N. Perez, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1992
- A Painter with A Camera, photographs, texts by J.Sobol and Nissan Perez, Hakibbutz
- Structures for a Given Interior, catalogue, text by Yehudit Shen-dar, Haifa Museum of Art, Haifa 1981
- Avraham Eilat, by Rudolf Kreuzer, Perlinger Verlag, Vorgl, Austria, 1980
- Avraham Eilat - Drawings, catalogue, text by G.Tadmor, Haifa Museum of Art, 1975
- Avraham Eilat, catalogue, no text, Galerie Eremitage, Schwaz, Austria, 1969
External links
- http://www.eilatart.com
- http://www.ein-hod.org/?Language=1
- http://www.pixelpress.org/
- http://www.galeriaff.infocentrum.com/
- http://www.21galerie.de/
- http://www.hms.org.il/Museum/Templates/showpage.asp?DBID=1&TMID=953&LNGID=1&FID=859&PID=1887&IID=1798
- http://www.kupferman.co.il/Hosted_Exhibition_eng.asp
- http://www.pyramidart.org
- http://www.museumeinharod.org.il/english/exhibitions/1980-1989/
- http://art.haifa.ac.il/staff/jrosen.htm
- http://www.artdes.monash.edu.au/globe/issue8/tbtitle.html
- http://www.jerusalemprintworkshop.org/
- http://www.hadarochel.co.il/107981/%D7%90%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%94%D7%9D-%D7%90%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%AA
- http://www.mouse.co.il/CM.articles_item,1018,209,39879,.aspx
- http://www.art-text.com/exhibitions-58
- http://www.digitalartlab.org.il/ExhibitionPageHeb.asp?id=133&path=artist
- http://www.a-designer.co.il/newsFull.asp?newsid=2703
- http://www.e-mago.co.il/articles/503.htm
- http://www.kibbutz.org.il/itonut/2009/dafyarok/090527_hadar_ochel.htm?findWords=%D7%97%D7%93%D7%A8
- http://www.mynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3707696,00.html
- http://www.mako.co.il/music-Magazine/articles/Article-43834c22f956f11004.htm
- http://www.haaretz.com/hasite/spages/831934.html?more=1
- http://www.nrg.co.il/online/47/ART1/781/324.html
- http://www.02net.co.il/Site/templates/inPage.asp?catID=7&subID=566&docID=32383
- http://www.moshe-givati.co.il/text.asp?c1=&c2=9&page=1
- http://www.haifacity.com/article.asp?articlecode=1735
- http://www.danna-taggar.com/default.asp?PageID=461
- http://www.danna-taggar.com/default.asp?PageID=469
- http://www.ngprague.cz/itca/
- http://www.ngprague.cz/itca/16.html