Maya Cohen Levy
Encyclopedia
Maya Cohen Levy also known as Maya Cohen-Levy, is an Israeli painter and sculptor.
. She studied philosophy at Tel Aviv University
from 1973 to 1974. From 1975 to 1979, she pursued advanced studies at the High School for Art in Tel Aviv. In 1983, she went to Japan to study calligraphy
and sumi-e painting
.
Heavily pregnant in 1984, she was told by a senior artist in the Kalisher School of Art, "You'll never be an artist now." She said this made her feel terrible, but also strengthened: "We were operating in a male environment, in a culture that believed that the great artists are men. It doesn't matter what your feminist views were, in the end you were left with that. The way to success was to adopt that attitude and not to be a mother. Women who wanted to enter the field had to be like that." In the 1980s, after gaining a stipend to work at a center in the United States, she said that she would attend with her daughter, and was sent rules, which included "no children or pets".
She initially believed that she had to make the choice between motherhood and a career as an artist, but became one of the few women artists at that time who decided that motherhood was compatible with being an artist. Women artists of the previous generation had either chosen not to have children, or left children with others to look after, such as Lea Nikel
, whose daughter lived in a kibbutz
. Very few women were art school teachers and those who were did not have children.
1994-5, she studied calligraphy
in Beijing, China. In 2000, she had an exhibition Ponds 1995-2000, sponsored by The Nelford Foundation, at Tel Aviv Museum of Art. The paintings used the theme of ponds in various forms.
In 2002, she was one of the 10 Israeli artists invited to participate in the first seminar of Ma'aseh Hoshev (Informed Creations), under the auspice of the Schechter Institute for Jewish Studies (SIJS). The aim of the project was to connect Talmud
ic knowledge with artistic creation. Levy's contribution addressed the Israel-Palestinian conflict with the superimposition of a text from the bible onto the statement made by an arrested Palestinian man.
In 2006, her painting Roots (right) was sold at Sotheby's
, whose catalogue notes said:
She had painted other works with the same title 2000–2002.
The characteristic of her work is a complexity of paint streaks, which have used organic images such as the honeycomb, the palm tree and the sunflower, where her discovery of the golden spiral
organisation of the plant's seeds led to an exploration of the Islamic tradition
, which counterbalanced her initial influence from Abstract Expressionism
and resulted in depictions of upside-down trees, whose branches thus appear to be roots.
Her work includes paintings, sculptures, installations and books in collaboration with writers and poets. She has taught for 25 years in schools including Bezalel Art Academy in Jerusalem and the Kalisher Art School in Tel Aviv.
Levy lives in Tel Aviv
.
Life and work
Maya Cohen Levy was born in Tel AvivTel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
. She studied philosophy at Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University is a public university located in Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel. With nearly 30,000 students, TAU is Israel's largest university.-History:...
from 1973 to 1974. From 1975 to 1979, she pursued advanced studies at the High School for Art in Tel Aviv. In 1983, she went to Japan to study calligraphy
Calligraphy
Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...
and sumi-e painting
Ink and wash painting
Ink and wash painting is an East Asian type of brush painting also known as ink wash painting. Only black ink — the same as used in East Asian calligraphy — is used, in various concentrations....
.
Heavily pregnant in 1984, she was told by a senior artist in the Kalisher School of Art, "You'll never be an artist now." She said this made her feel terrible, but also strengthened: "We were operating in a male environment, in a culture that believed that the great artists are men. It doesn't matter what your feminist views were, in the end you were left with that. The way to success was to adopt that attitude and not to be a mother. Women who wanted to enter the field had to be like that." In the 1980s, after gaining a stipend to work at a center in the United States, she said that she would attend with her daughter, and was sent rules, which included "no children or pets".
She initially believed that she had to make the choice between motherhood and a career as an artist, but became one of the few women artists at that time who decided that motherhood was compatible with being an artist. Women artists of the previous generation had either chosen not to have children, or left children with others to look after, such as Lea Nikel
Lea Nikel
-Biography :Lea Nikel was born in Zhitomir, Ukraine in 1918. Her family immigrated to British-administered Palestine in 1920. She had one sister, Sara , who was born in 1926. She began studying with painter Chaim Gliksberg in Tel Aviv in 1935, later studying with Yechezkel Streichman and Avigdor...
, whose daughter lived in a 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...
. Very few women were art school teachers and those who were did not have children.
1994-5, she studied calligraphy
Calligraphy
Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...
in Beijing, China. In 2000, she had an exhibition Ponds 1995-2000, sponsored by The Nelford Foundation, at Tel Aviv Museum of Art. The paintings used the theme of ponds in various forms.
In 2002, she was one of the 10 Israeli artists invited to participate in the first seminar of Ma'aseh Hoshev (Informed Creations), under the auspice of the Schechter Institute for Jewish Studies (SIJS). The aim of the project was to connect Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
ic knowledge with artistic creation. Levy's contribution addressed the Israel-Palestinian conflict with the superimposition of a text from the bible onto the statement made by an arrested Palestinian man.
In 2006, her painting Roots (right) was sold at Sotheby's
Sotheby's
Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...
, whose catalogue notes said:
- The densely worked brush strokes of Cohen Levy's paintings refer to the organic and the geometric but are influenced by Islamic ornamentation as well as the American Abstract Expressionist movement.
She had painted other works with the same title 2000–2002.
The characteristic of her work is a complexity of paint streaks, which have used organic images such as the honeycomb, the palm tree and the sunflower, where her discovery of the golden spiral
Golden spiral
In geometry, a golden spiral is a logarithmic spiral whose growth factor is , the golden ratio. That is, a golden spiral gets wider by a factor of for every quarter turn it makes.-Formula:...
organisation of the plant's seeds led to an exploration of the Islamic tradition
Islamic art
Islamic art encompasses the visual arts produced from the 7th century onwards by people who lived within the territory that was inhabited by or ruled by culturally Islamic populations...
, which counterbalanced her initial influence from Abstract Expressionism
Abstract expressionism
Abstract expressionism was an American post–World War II art movement. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve worldwide influence and put New York City at the center of the western art world, a role formerly filled by Paris...
and resulted in depictions of upside-down trees, whose branches thus appear to be roots.
Her work includes paintings, sculptures, installations and books in collaboration with writers and poets. She has taught for 25 years in schools including Bezalel Art Academy in Jerusalem and the Kalisher Art School in Tel Aviv.
Levy lives in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
.
Awards
- Ministry of Culture and Education in Israel
- Dan Sandel Sculpture Award in the Tel Aviv Museum of Art
- The Painting Award of the Israel Art Museum in Jerusalem
Further reading
- Chelouche Gallery, Maya Cohen Levy, Tel Aviv, Chelouche Gallery, 1993.
- Steinlauf, Varda, Maya Cohen Levy: Ponds, 1995-2000, Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2000.