Lot 66
  • 66

Joseph Zaritsky 1891-1985

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Description

  • Joseph Zaritsky
  • The artist painting on his rooftop
  • signed J. Zaritsky and signed in Hebrew (lower right)
  • watercolor on paper
  • 20 7/8 by 28 3/4 in.
  • 53 by 73 cm.

Provenance

Bertha Urdang Gallery, Jerusalem
Bernard K. Walker, Michigan (acquired from the above in 1963)

Catalogue Note

"On the eve of Passover in 1930, Yosef Zaritsky left Jerusalem for Tel Aviv, and shortly thereafter he began to paint views of this new Hebrew city. This period constituted a crucial transitional stage in the development of his artistic language, which carried him to the threshold of abstraction. The series of variations on the same Tel Aviv landscape that he painted during these years, and which he depicted from only two vantage points - from a roof and through a window - allowed him to establish a new syntax, which developed obstinately and consistently into a powerful body of work.
The cityscapes and landscapes he painted did not interest Zaritsky in and of themselves; rather, he saw them as conduits for artistic expression... The visual focus gave way, in his paintings, to a focus on a personal, emotional source, which flowed abundantly throughout his artistic career...Light is the "primary material" upon which Zaritsky's artistic language is based." (Mordechai Omer quoted in Mordechai Omer (ed.), Highlights from the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2005, page 272.)