Yocheved Weinfeld
Encyclopedia
Yocheved Weinfeld is an artist, museum educator and developer of interactive exhibitions for children. She studied at the Tel Aviv University and the State Art Teacher's College (Israel); at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem (Israel); and at the Michaelis School of Art at the University of Cape Town (South Africa).
Weinfeld taught art at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the State Art Teacher's College, the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design
and at the Michaelis School of Art, University of Cape Town. She also developped and designed educational exhibitions for children at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem (Israel), the Jewish Museum
in New York, and at the Jewish Children’s Learning Lab (now known as the Children’s Galleries for Jewish Culture) in New York which she co-founded in 1995.
Weinfeld is considered one of the first Israeli artists to explore her heritage as a Jewish woman using contemporary means. She exhibited her work in numerous one-woman shows in Israel since the 1970s (e.g., the Israel Museum
, Bograshov Gallery, Gordon Gallery, Debel Gallery, Mabat Gallery). She also participated in many international group exhibitions in museums and galleries around the world.
Her works are included in the collections of the Israel Museum
in Jerusalem (Israel), the Hamburg Kunsthalle(Germany), the Tel Aviv Museum(Israel), the Haifa Museum
(Israel), and in various private collections around the world. Weinfeld lives and works in New York City.
(Poland), and lived in Wroclaw
, also in Silesia
. Before World War II, her father Natan Ernst (b.1909) was a prosperous manufacturer of men’s shirts in Przemysl
, Poland and her mother, Klara Goldstein (1922 -1973), had just graduated from the local vocational high school. Natan’s Parents were shot by the Nazis and he spent the war in hiding. Klara obtained false documents and, posing as an Aryan, served as a housekeeper for a German SS officer stationed in Poland. They met and married after the war.
In 1957 the Ernst family emigrated to Israel, and after a few months in Tel-Aviv settled in Givatayim, a town near Tel-Aviv. While Ewa, now Yocheved, was considered an overall gifted child, her exceptional talents in drawing, acting and writing received particular attention.
At the age of 16 she was taken on as a student by the prominent Israeli artist and teacher, Raffi Lavie
, and before she was 20, her works were being shown alongside her mentor’s in exhibitions staged by the avant-garde group 10+. In 1979 she married David Weinfeld, then a Doctoral student at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and an Orthodox Jew. In 1977 the marriage ended in divorce. In 1980, Weinfeld married Steven Kasher and moved to New York. In 1985 she gave birth to their daughter Talia Kasher. In 1993 the couple divorced.
(Based loosely on Dr. Gannit Ankori
: Yocheved Weinfeld’s Portraits of the Self in Woman’s Art Journal, Spring/Summer 1989.)
Over the next three years Weinfeld experimented with other juxtapositions of stylistic contrasts. Those were exhibited in numerous group shows, and eventually in 1972 in a one-woman show at the Bar-Kochba Gallery in Tel-Aviv. The exhibition met with mixed reviews. Reuben Berman wrote in The Jerusalem Post: “… Paintings based on internal stylistic and conceptual contrasts that break down fundamentally into a reasoned, studied, restrained approach on the one hand, and a spontaneous, gestural, painterly approach on the other… But the contrasts are lively and the show as a whole bears evidence of intellectual alertness…”
In 1973 following her mother’s death and the Yom Kippur War, in an attempt to relinquish her facile drawings, and out of need to express her reaction to the scarred flesh and the scarred society, Weinfeld started experimenting with stitches on paper in lieu of pencil lines, and sometimes next to them. Some of those “drawings” were perceived as erotic and feminine, if not feminist. Stitching paper and canvas gave way to a renewed interest in flesh and body.
In 1974, in a one-woman show at the Debel Gallery in Jerusalem, Weinfeld -- again interested in paradox –- exhibited, among other works, a series of photographs of stitched hands and faces. These works that were in fact stitched photographs re-photographed, led way to works that became increasingly less concerned with esthetics or style and more conceptual in nature. The scarred, stitched “drawings” along with the stitched body parts, caused some critics to place Weinfeld’s art within the Body-Art movement, and within it as Feminst in nature.
In 1975, following her interest in synaesthesia and the definition of art as “an expression of what cannot be expressed otherwise,” Weinfeld explored the capability of visual art to transmit tactile physical bodily sensations, such as the sensation of hunger, or pain in the roots of hair. She juxtaposed scientific and descriptive text with objects that strove to transmit bodily sensations visually. Unfortunately, with the exception of Yigael Tzalmona (Maariv
, 3.21.75), most critics missed the point, and saw the topics as unworthy of artistic endeavor.
In 1976, after reading the Code of Jewish Law (Shulhan Arukh), texts which she found fascinating and evocative, Weinfeld created a performance as part of her exhibition at the Debel Gallery. During the performance the artist explored visual, mythical images of prohibitions and rituals related to cleanliness and mourning, prompted by those texts. She acted out her own interpretation of the proscribed rituals. The content of the performance was, by virtue of the topic and the female artist’s prism, feminine, but not Feminist, in nature. In an artistic environment that shunned the mention of the Holocaust and Jewish religious topics, it was one of the first times that an artist used Jewish ancient and modern heritage as an inspiration for what was considered at the time an avant-garde work of art. In his article about the exhibition in Art News, (“Whimsey and poetry; traumas and taboos” September, 1976), Meir Ronnen wrote: “One left the gallery questioning many aspects of our Judeo-Christian cultural heritage – a heritage of pain, suffering, superstition and a mystic belief in man’s ability to rise above the physical in purification rites.”
Weinfeld taught art at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the State Art Teacher's College, the 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 ....
and at the Michaelis School of Art, University of Cape Town. She also developped and designed educational exhibitions for children at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem (Israel), the Jewish Museum
Jewish Museum (New York)
The Jewish Museum of New York, an art museum and repository of cultural artifacts, is the leading Jewish museum in the United States. With over 26,000 objects, it contains the largest collection of art and Jewish culture outside of museums in Israel. The museum is housed at 1109 Fifth Avenue, in...
in New York, and at the Jewish Children’s Learning Lab (now known as the Children’s Galleries for Jewish Culture) in New York which she co-founded in 1995.
Weinfeld is considered one of the first Israeli artists to explore her heritage as a Jewish woman using contemporary means. She exhibited her work in numerous one-woman shows in Israel since the 1970s (e.g., the Israel Museum
Israel Museum
The 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....
, Bograshov Gallery, Gordon Gallery, Debel Gallery, Mabat Gallery). She also participated in many international group exhibitions in museums and galleries around the world.
Her works are included in the collections of the Israel Museum
Israel Museum
The 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....
in Jerusalem (Israel), the Hamburg Kunsthalle(Germany), the Tel Aviv Museum(Israel), the Haifa Museum
Haifa Museum
The Haifa Museum of Art , established in 1951, is located in a historic building built in the 1930's in Wadi Nisnas, Downtown Haifa...
(Israel), and in various private collections around the world. Weinfeld lives and works in New York City.
Biography
Yocheved (Juki) Weinfeld (nee Ewa Ernst) was born in 1947 in the Silesian city of LegnicaLegnica
Legnica is a town in south-western Poland, in Silesia, in the central part of Lower Silesia, on the plain of Legnica, riverside: Kaczawa and Czarna Woda. Between 1 June 1975 and 31 December 1998 Legnica was the capital of the Legnica Voivodeship. It is currently the seat of the county...
(Poland), and lived in Wroclaw
Wroclaw
Wrocław , situated on the River Oder , is the main city of southwestern Poland.Wrocław was the historical capital of Silesia and is today the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. Over the centuries, the city has been part of either Poland, Bohemia, Austria, Prussia, or Germany, but since 1945...
, also in Silesia
Silesia
Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
. Before World War II, her father Natan Ernst (b.1909) was a prosperous manufacturer of men’s shirts in Przemysl
Przemysl
Przemyśl is a city in south-eastern Poland with 66,756 inhabitants, as of June 2009. In 1999, it became part of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship; it was previously the capital of Przemyśl Voivodeship....
, Poland and her mother, Klara Goldstein (1922 -1973), had just graduated from the local vocational high school. Natan’s Parents were shot by the Nazis and he spent the war in hiding. Klara obtained false documents and, posing as an Aryan, served as a housekeeper for a German SS officer stationed in Poland. They met and married after the war.
In 1957 the Ernst family emigrated to Israel, and after a few months in Tel-Aviv settled in Givatayim, a town near Tel-Aviv. While Ewa, now Yocheved, was considered an overall gifted child, her exceptional talents in drawing, acting and writing received particular attention.
At the age of 16 she was taken on as a student by the prominent Israeli artist and teacher, Raffi Lavie
Raffi Lavie
Raffi Lavie was an Israeli artist, art educator and music/art critic.-Biography:Lavi was born in Tel Aviv, Mandate Palestine. He began teaching at the Midrasha Art Academy in 1966. In the same year he was also a founder of the group Ten Plus. Lavie's work is a cross between graffiti and abstract...
, and before she was 20, her works were being shown alongside her mentor’s in exhibitions staged by the avant-garde group 10+. In 1979 she married David Weinfeld, then a Doctoral student at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and an Orthodox Jew. In 1977 the marriage ended in divorce. In 1980, Weinfeld married Steven Kasher and moved to New York. In 1985 she gave birth to their daughter Talia Kasher. In 1993 the couple divorced.
(Based loosely on Dr. Gannit Ankori
Gannit Ankori
Gannit Ankori is an Israeli art historian. She is Professor of Fine Arts and Chair in Israeli Art at the Department of Fine Arts at Brandeis University...
: Yocheved Weinfeld’s Portraits of the Self in Woman’s Art Journal, Spring/Summer 1989.)
Art
In 1969 Weinfled exhibited her early paintings in a one-woman show in Mabat Gallery in Tel-Aviv (Israel). The paintings explored containments of biomorphic shapes (such as flesh) within geometric boundaries. The exhibition was met with disdain by most of the local art critics.Over the next three years Weinfeld experimented with other juxtapositions of stylistic contrasts. Those were exhibited in numerous group shows, and eventually in 1972 in a one-woman show at the Bar-Kochba Gallery in Tel-Aviv. The exhibition met with mixed reviews. Reuben Berman wrote in The Jerusalem Post: “… Paintings based on internal stylistic and conceptual contrasts that break down fundamentally into a reasoned, studied, restrained approach on the one hand, and a spontaneous, gestural, painterly approach on the other… But the contrasts are lively and the show as a whole bears evidence of intellectual alertness…”
In 1973 following her mother’s death and the Yom Kippur War, in an attempt to relinquish her facile drawings, and out of need to express her reaction to the scarred flesh and the scarred society, Weinfeld started experimenting with stitches on paper in lieu of pencil lines, and sometimes next to them. Some of those “drawings” were perceived as erotic and feminine, if not feminist. Stitching paper and canvas gave way to a renewed interest in flesh and body.
In 1974, in a one-woman show at the Debel Gallery in Jerusalem, Weinfeld -- again interested in paradox –- exhibited, among other works, a series of photographs of stitched hands and faces. These works that were in fact stitched photographs re-photographed, led way to works that became increasingly less concerned with esthetics or style and more conceptual in nature. The scarred, stitched “drawings” along with the stitched body parts, caused some critics to place Weinfeld’s art within the Body-Art movement, and within it as Feminst in nature.
In 1975, following her interest in synaesthesia and the definition of art as “an expression of what cannot be expressed otherwise,” Weinfeld explored the capability of visual art to transmit tactile physical bodily sensations, such as the sensation of hunger, or pain in the roots of hair. She juxtaposed scientific and descriptive text with objects that strove to transmit bodily sensations visually. Unfortunately, with the exception of Yigael Tzalmona (Maariv
Maariv
Maariv is a Hebrew language daily newspaper published in Israel. It is second in sales after Yedioth Ahronoth and third in readership after Yedioth Ahronoth and Israel HaYom. In a TGI survey comparing the last half of 2009 with the same period in 2008, Maariv saw its market share fall slightly...
, 3.21.75), most critics missed the point, and saw the topics as unworthy of artistic endeavor.
In 1976, after reading the Code of Jewish Law (Shulhan Arukh), texts which she found fascinating and evocative, Weinfeld created a performance as part of her exhibition at the Debel Gallery. During the performance the artist explored visual, mythical images of prohibitions and rituals related to cleanliness and mourning, prompted by those texts. She acted out her own interpretation of the proscribed rituals. The content of the performance was, by virtue of the topic and the female artist’s prism, feminine, but not Feminist, in nature. In an artistic environment that shunned the mention of the Holocaust and Jewish religious topics, it was one of the first times that an artist used Jewish ancient and modern heritage as an inspiration for what was considered at the time an avant-garde work of art. In his article about the exhibition in Art News, (“Whimsey and poetry; traumas and taboos” September, 1976), Meir Ronnen wrote: “One left the gallery questioning many aspects of our Judeo-Christian cultural heritage – a heritage of pain, suffering, superstition and a mystic belief in man’s ability to rise above the physical in purification rites.”