ARIE AROCH | Untitled

Michael Firon, Esq., Tel Aviv, before 1980
Thence by descent to the present owners

Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Arie Aroch, February - May 2003, illustrated in the exhibition catalog p. 419

Gideon Ofrat, In Arie Aroch's Library, Tel Aviv, 2001, p. 151, illustrated

In the late 1960s, Aroch's works explore a new language of art, an abstraction built from the tension between the two-dimensional and the three-dimensional. Mordechai Omer describes a work from the same year, a similar exploration of form and line, "The appearance here of geometrical bodies and forms, of straight "architect's" lines that seem almost ruled, and sometimes of broken "tailor's" lines, is supposed to accord this painting its structural rationality, its quiet and almost expected side; but these encounter incomprehensible forms - stains and scribbled, tachiste, almost automatic lines. The connection between these contrasts is often a non-connection possessing the character of a collage" (Omer, p. 432). In Untitled, 1969, the artist takes one step forward into literal collage, mounting the painted plywood onto the board and expanding the picture plane into a new dimension. The Firon Collection is one of the finest examples of a collection dedicated to Israeli Art built in the early decades of the state of Israel.

Michael (Mike) Firon acquired his first works of art in the early 1950s and became one of Israel’s best known collectors for the next 30 years. A man of highly refined taste, Firon collected masterpieces from over fifty Israeli and Ecole de Paris artists from the best periods of their creation.  

Among his first acquisitions, were two works by a then relatively unknown Yosl Bergner. The artist visited Firon’s home shortly after, to see who had acquired what he often referred to as his “children”, thus beginning a close friendship that lasted until the collector’s death in 2008. The Firon collection includes highlights that span the artist’s career, including the masterpiece triptych Kushan (The Deed).

Born in Tel Aviv in 1923, Firon fought in Israel’s War of Independence as a member of the Palmach. He was a tier-one lawyer, heading the Firon Law Firm for over 50 years. Renowned for his sharp wit and uncompromising professionalism, he served as Legal Counsel to the Israeli Labor party, was deeply involved in developing Israeli industry, and served as Chairman of the Board of the Israeli Aviation Industries. A highly educated intellectual and an avid art lover, Firon was generous in sharing his unique capabilities with others, and his passions are reflected in his important collection of Israeli Art.