Larry Abramson
Encyclopedia
Biography
Abramson was born in 1954 in South AfricaSouth Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. In 1961, his family emigrated to Israel and settled in Jerusalem. In 1970, as a high school senior, he was one of the signators of a conscientious objectors to Israeli rejection of Egyptian President Nasser’s peace initiative. In 1973 Abramson studied a Foundation Course at the Chelsea College of Art and Design
Chelsea College of Art and Design
Chelsea College of Art and Design, the erstwhile Chelsea School of Art, is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, and is a leading British art and design institution with an international reputation...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Upon his return to Israel he took a position as printer and curator of exhibitions at the Jerusalem Print Workshop, where he worked for nine years, until 1986.
His first solo exhibition was in 1975. His work during the 1980s dealt with a variety of iconic symbols from modernist European art, particularly the "Black Square" by Kazimir Malevich
Kazimir Malevich
Kazimir Severinovich Malevich was a Russian painter and art theoretician, born of ethnic Polish parents. He was a pioneer of geometric abstract art and the originator of the Avant-garde Suprematist movement.-Early life:...
, which he used to create dynamic situations combining abstraction and a figurative art
Figurative art
Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork—particularly paintings and sculptures—which are clearly derived from real object sources, and are therefore by definition representational.-Definition:...
idiom.
During 1993 and 1994 Abramson created the series of work "tsooba," which was exhibited at the Kibbutz Art Gallery, Tel Aviv. The series was composed of 38 landscape paintings (oil on canvas), 38 impressions on newspaper of the landscape paintings, and a group of still life paintings after samples of flora taken from the site”
This series relates to a mound of ruins near Kibbutz Tzova, a site which was painted a decade earlier by the artist Joseph Zaritsky. While Zaritsky ignored the Palestinian ruins found on the site and thus abstracted the landscape, Abramson painted the view realistically and then defaced it. By “seeing” the ruins of the Palestinian village, he criticizes the Israeli point of view which seeks to erase the Palestinian identity from the appropriated territory.
In 1984, Abramson joined the teaching staff of the art department of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem. In 1992 he was appointed head of the Fine Art department, and in 1996 he founded and headed the Bezalel Program for Young Artists (Master of Fine Art).
In 2000 and 2003 he was invited as guest lecturer at the San Francisco Art Institute
San Francisco Art Institute
San Francisco Art Institute is a school of higher education in contemporary art with the main campus in the Russian Hill district of San Francisco, California. Its graduate center is in the Dogpatch neighborhood. The private, non-profit institution is accredited by WASC and is a member of the...
, and in 2002 he joined the academic team planning the establishment of a new art department at the Shenkar College of Engineering and Design
Shenkar College of Engineering and Design
Shenkar College of Engineering and Design is a college in Ramat Gan, Israel. Shenkar serves the Israeli industry by providing academic qualification and R&D services for modern industries....
in Ramat Gan, Israel.”
In May 2002 Abramson published in the journal Studio an article entitled "We Are All Felix Nussbaum," in which he raised the problematic relationship between art and history in the post-Holocaust era.
In 2005 Abramson mounted an exhibition of works under the name "The Pile" which included charcoal drawings of piles of construction debris, relating to the issue of representation of ruins in art and the figure of Jewish-German painter Felix Nussbaum. This series was exhibited at the Felix-Nussbaum-Haus Museum in Osnabrück
Osnabrück
Osnabrück is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, some 80 km NNE of Dortmund, 45 km NE of Münster, and some 100 km due west of Hanover. It lies in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and at the Chaim Atar Museum of Art on Kibbutz Ein Harod
Ein Harod
Ein 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...
in the Jezreel Valley
Jezreel Valley
-Etymology:The Jezreel Valley takes its name from the ancient city of Jezreel which was located on a low hill overlooking the southern edge of the valley, though some scholars think that the name of the city originates from the name of the clan which founded it, and whose existence is mentioned in...
.
In 2007 Abramson held an exhibition of recent paintings at the Gordon Gallery in Tel Aviv, and in 2010 an extensive retrospective exhibition of his work was held at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art
Tel Aviv Museum of Art
The Tel Aviv Museum of Art is an art museum in Tel Aviv, Israel. It was established in 1932 in a building that was the home of Tel Aviv's first mayor, Meir Dizengoff. The Helena Rubinstein Pavilion for Contemporary Art opened in 1959. The museum moved to its current location on King Saul Avenue in...
(curator: Ellen Ginton).
Awards and prizes
- 1979 The Beatrice S. Kolliner Award for a Young Israeli Artist, Israel MuseumIsrael MuseumThe Israel Museum, Jerusalem was founded in 1965 as Israel's national museum. It is situated on a hill in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem, near the Bible Lands Museum, the Knesset, the Israeli Supreme Court, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....
, Jerusalem - 1988 America Israel Cultural FoundationAmerica Israel Cultural FoundationThe America Israel Cultural Foundation was established in 1939 to support the growth and development of Israel. Originally established as the American Fund for Palestinian Institutions, after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 the name was changed to the American Fund for Israeli...
- 1991 Jacques Ohana Prize, Tel Aviv Museum of ArtTel Aviv Museum of ArtThe Tel Aviv Museum of Art is an art museum in Tel Aviv, Israel. It was established in 1932 in a building that was the home of Tel Aviv's first mayor, Meir Dizengoff. The Helena Rubinstein Pavilion for Contemporary Art opened in 1959. The museum moved to its current location on King Saul Avenue in...
- 1993 Sharet Award for Culture and Art, Science, Culture and Sport Minister of IsraelScience, Culture and Sport Minister of IsraelThe Science and Technology Minister of Israel is the political head of the Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology and a relatively minor position in the Israeli cabinet. The current minister is Daniel Hershkowitz of The Jewish Home party...
- 1998 The Minister of Education, Culture Prize, Ministry of Culture and EducationMinistry of Education (Israel)The Israeli Ministry of Education is the branch of government charged with overseeing public education institutions in Israel. The political head of the department is the Minster of Education, currently Gideon Sa'ar....
- 2007 Mendel and Eva Pundik Prize for Israeli Art, Tel Aviv Museum of ArtTel Aviv Museum of ArtThe Tel Aviv Museum of Art is an art museum in Tel Aviv, Israel. It was established in 1932 in a building that was the home of Tel Aviv's first mayor, Meir Dizengoff. The Helena Rubinstein Pavilion for Contemporary Art opened in 1959. The museum moved to its current location on King Saul Avenue in...
External links
- Larry Abramson at Gordon Gallery website
- Larry Abramson at the Jerusalem Print Workshop website