Yitzhak Frenkel
Encyclopedia
Biography
Frenkel was born in 1899 in OdessaOdessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. He was a great-grandson of the famed Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev
Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev
Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev , also known as the Berdichever, was a rabbi and Hasidic leader. He was the rabbi of Ryczywół, Żelechów, Pinsk and Berdychiv, for which he is best known...
. In 1917, he studied under Aleksandra Ekster
Aleksandra Ekster
Aleksandra Aleksandrovna Ekster was a Russian-French painter and designer.-Biography:-Childhood:...
at the Art Academy in Odessa. Frenkel emigrated to Mandate Palestine in 1919 as part of the first wave of settlers of the Third Aliyah (see Aliyah
Aliyah
Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...
). In 1920, he established the artists' cooperative in Jaffa
Jaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
and an artists' studio in Herzliya
Herzliya
Herzliya is a city in the central coast of Israel, at the western part of the Tel Aviv District. It has a population of 87,000 residents. Named after Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, Herzliya covers an area of 26 km²...
. Later that year Frenkel traveled to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
where he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement. The school has a history spanning more than 350 years,...
and at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière
Académie de la Grande Chaumière
The Académie de la Grande Chaumière is an art school in the VIe arrondissement of Paris, France. The school was founded in 1902 by the Swiss Martha Stettler , who refused to teach the strict academic rules of painting of the École des Beaux-Arts. It opened the way to the "Art Indépendant"...
at the studios of the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle
Antoine Bourdelle
Antoine Bourdelle , originally Émile Antoine Bourdelle, was an influential and prolific French sculptor, painter, and teacher.-Career:...
and painter Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...
. One of the most important Jewish artists of the École de Paris, Frenkel’s contemporaries included Chaim Soutine
Chaim Soutine
Chaïm Soutine was a Jewish painter from Belarus. Soutine made a major contribution to the expressionist movement while living in Paris....
, Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall Art critic Robert Hughes referred to Chagall as "the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century."According to art historian Michael J...
, Amedeo Modigliani
Amedeo Modigliani
Amedeo Clemente Modigliani was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. Primarily a figurative artist, he became known for paintings and sculptures in a modern style characterized by mask-like faces and elongation of form...
, Michel Kikoine
Michel Kikoine
Michel Kikoine , was a French painter of Jewish-Belarusian origin.- Life :Kikoine was born in Rechytsa, Belarus. The son of a Jewish banker in the small southeastern town of Gomel, he was barely into his teens when he began studying at "Kruger's School of Drawing" in Minsk. There he met Chaim...
, Pinchus Krémègne
Pinchus Kremegne
Pinchus Krémègne, aka Pinchus Kremegne , was a French artist of Jewish-Russian origin, primarily known as a sculptor, painter and lithographer....
, Mané-Katz
Mane-Katz
Emmanuel Mané-Katz, born Mane Leyzerovich Kats , was a Jewish painter born in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, best known for his depictions of the Jewish shtetl in Eastern Europe.- Biography :...
, and Jules Pascin.
Frenkel returned to Palestine in 1925 and opened the studio of painting arts of the Histadrut
Histadrut
HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel HaOvdim B'Eretz Yisrael , known as the Histadrut, is Israel's organization of trade unions. Established in December 1920 during the British Mandate for Palestine, it became one of the most powerful institutions of the State of Israel.-History:The Histadrut was founded in...
School 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...
. His students included Shimshon Holzman
Shimshon Holzman
Shimshon Holzman was an Israeli landscape and figurative painter.-Background:Holzman was born in 1907 in Sambir, Galicia. He immigrated to Mandate Palestine from Vienna, Austria in 1922, settled in Tel Aviv, and began working as a house painter with his father...
, Mordechai Levanon, David Hendler, Joseph Kossonogi
Joseph Kossonogi
Joseph Kossonogi was an Israeli painter.-Biography:Kossonogi was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1908. After studies at the Berlin Academy of Art and advanced studies in France, Holland, Italy and Spain, he immigrated to Mandate Palestine and settled in Tel Aviv in 1926...
, and Ziona Tajar. He was also a mentor to Bezalel Academy of Art and Design
Bezalel Academy of Art and Design
Bezalel Academy of Art and Design is Israel's national school of art, founded in 1906 by Boris Schatz. It is named for the Biblical figure Bezalel, son of Uri , who was appointed by Moses to oversee the design and construction of the Tabernacle ....
students Avigdor Stematsky
Avigdor Stematsky
Avigdor Stematsky was a Russian-born Israeli painter. He is considered one of the pioneers of Israeli abstract art.-Biography:Stematsky was born in 1908 in Odessa. In 1922, he immigrated to Palestine and attended the Bezalel School of Art in Jerusalem from 1926 to 1928. He joined the Massad group...
, Yehezkel Streichman
Yehezkel Streichman
Yehezkel Streichman was an Israeli painter. He is considered a pioneer of Israeli modernist painting. Among the awards that he won were the Dizengoff Prize and the Israel Prize.-Early life:Streichman was born in Kovno, Lithuania...
, Moshe Castel
Moshe Castel
-Biography:Moshe Elazar Castel born in Jerusalem, Ottoman Palestine, in 1909, to Rabbi Yehuda Castel and his wife Rachel. The family was descended from Spanish Jews from Castile who immigrated to the Holy Land after the explusion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. His father was born in Hebron. He...
, and Arieh Aroch. Frenkel’s paintings favoured the abstract contemporary influences he had adopted during his years in Paris, rather than the orientalist
Orientalism
Orientalism is a term used for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists, as well as having other meanings...
trends then popular in Israel. After a five-year stay in Paris, Frenkel made Safed
Safed
Safed , is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and of Israel. Due to its high elevation, Safed experiences warm summers and cold, often snowy, winters...
his home in 1934, well before the establishment of the influential Artists' Colony.
In 1973, a museum of his works was opened at his house in Safed
Safed
Safed , is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and of Israel. Due to its high elevation, Safed experiences warm summers and cold, often snowy, winters...
. In 1979, he had a one-man show at the renowned Orangerie in Paris. He died in Tel Aviv in 1981 and was buried in Safed.
Awards
Among Frenkel's numerous prizes and accomplishments are the Dizengoff PrizeDizengoff Prize
The Dizengoff Prize for Painting and Sculpture is awarded annually by the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality since 1937.The following is a table of Dizengoff Prize laureates in their respective art form:...
for painting in 1938 and again in 1948 and his participation in the first and second Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
s.
Further reading
- Barzel, Amnon. Isaac Alexander Frenel. Jerusalem: Massada Press, 1974.
- Gumprecht-Linke, S. Frenel: École de Paris. Amsterdam: Israel Galerie Linka, 1977.
External links
- The Official Website
- Israeli Art Centre (Isaac Frenel)