page_title: Israeli printmaking
section_title: 1950–1970
hierarchical_section_title: Israeli printmaking / 1950–1970
caption_attribution_description: Printעברית: הדפס
context_page_description: Israeli printmaking refers to printmaking by Jewish artists in the Land of Israel and the State of Israel beginning in the second half of the 19th century. The genre includes a variety of techniques, including woodcutting, etching and lithography.
context_section_description: The establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 does not constitute a significant historical point in the history of Israeli art, apart from several expressions of nationalism and the development of iconography around the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. However, the opening of Mandatory Palestine to Jewish immigration led to a large population that began to be educated according to the tradition of the young field of the Israeli print, led in these years by Jacob Steinhardt in the new Bezalel. Many of the youngsters who came to Eretz Israel after the Holocaust either under the auspices of Youth Aliyah, or with their families, such as Jacob Pins, Avraham Ofek, Avigdor Arikha, Yehuda Bacon, Moshe Hoffman, among others, became prominent Israeli artists in the 1950s and 1960s.
  Apart from the technique of the woodcut, that could be studied at Bezalel, there were not many places that trained artists in the various print techniques. In Ein Hod and Jerusalem, Rudi Lehman taught the art of the wood cut and sculpture. A large group of artists were influenced by his approach to art, that combined animal images in a "primitive" style with a modernist ethos of creativity. This group included artists such as Shoshana Heimann, Raya Bar Adon and others. Some training in the technique of lithograph printing was provided by Cohen, who operated the Hebrew University Press in Jerusalem. Most of the artists printed their works in his studio, or with local artists, such as David Ben Shaul, who had specialized in lithograph printing in Paris. Upon his return to Israel in 1963, he brought a lithographic press and printed works for various artists in his studio in Jerusalem.
  Basing themselves on the local tradition and ethos of Paris as the capital of world art, many artists continued to travel to pursue art studies in France and Europe, unaware of the change in the world art scene and the development of the United States as an art center. Aryeh Rothman, for example, went to study at the Académie Julian in 1959, and later studied in Paris at the Johnny Friedlaender engraving workshop. Tuvia Beeri studied at the Académie des Beaux-Arts (1963–1961), and continued his specialization in Friedlaender's engraving workshop. Milka Cizik, however, went to study in East Germany (1965–1961), where she studied various printing techniques at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich.
  The French and German influences led to the adoption of modernist techniques, such as Aryeh Rothman's use of the photographic technique of Heliograveur and the "invention" by others of various artistic techniques (in the spirit of late Surrealism). Miron Sima, for example, added to his woodcuts, such as "The Bride", textures printed from fabrics and chains, which sought to enrich the texture of the print, and to deepen its realism. In addition, the shortage of materials available in Israel led many artists to use other techniques that were available to them, such as Linocut, as a substitute for wood cut. Even Rudi Lehmann, despite his strong connection to artistic tradition, experimented with the use of new materials. He was one of the first artists to create woodcuts on plywood.
  The artistic print field to which these students were exposed upon their return to Israel was very limited. Not only were there no places to print editions of artistic prints, it was also considered a secondary art. In the 1960 album Graphic Art in Israel, Eugen Kolb wrote that "exhibitions of graphics only are considered (unfairly!) for less important exhibits." Elisheva Cohen, curator of the Department of Prints and Drawings at the Bezalel National Museum and at the Israel Museum, had to publish the booklet The Print: What Is It? (1965), in order to expose the field to visitors to the museum. Therefore, it is no wonder that in the annual general exhibition of the Israel Painters and Sculptors Association of 1963, for example, only 7 artistic prints were displayed out of 375 works. Also at the exhibition Tazpit 1964, which was perceived as more artistic at the time, Tuvia Beeri was the only artist among more than 30 ar
caption: Man and Bull (1964) BY Avraham Ofek. Etching and aquatint. Printed by the Jerusalem Print Workshop
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