Menashe Kadishman 1932 - 2015
Sheep's Head

Sheep's Head
Acrylic on canvas, 60X50 cm, Signed.

About The Artist:

Menashe Kadishman, an Israeli sculptor and painter, was born in 1932, in Tel Aviv.

When he was 15 His father died and Kadishman left school to help support his family, while taking evening art classes with Aharon Avni. In 1950 he joined the Nahal Brigade in the Army, and was assigned to Ma'ayan Baruch, on the borders of Lebanon, Syria and Israel. He worked as a shepherd, which affected many of his works. Kadishman is famous for his colorful sheep portraits, which he began painting in 1995.

From 1947 to 1950, Kadishman studied with the Israeli sculptor Moshe Sternschuss at the Avni Institute of Art and Design in Tel Aviv, and in 1954 with the Israeli sculptor Rudi Lehmann in Jerusalem.

In 1959, he moved to London, where he attended the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and the Slade School of Art. During 1959 and 1960 he also studied with Anthony Caro and Reg Butler. He remained in London until 1972.and witnessed the development of pop-art.

His sculptures of the 1960s were Minimalist in style, and so designed as to appear to defy gravity. This was achieved either through careful balance and construction, as in Suspense (1966), or by using glass and metal so that the metal appeared unsupported, as in Segments (1968). The glass allowed the environment to be part of the work.

In October 1982 the Lebanon War broke out and his son was drafted. He began to paint large compositions of heroism and death, the horrors of war and the sacrifice of Isaac. Kadishman felt he was Abraham – sacrificing his own son on the altar of the Supreme Order – the Country's order.

In 1988 Kadishman began a new series: Birth, with a silhouette of a mother giving birth, and created hundreds of variations of the theme. He linked the birth with the sacrifice. In the Sacrifice of Isaac Sarah becomes an active partner, as she symbolizes the mothers of the fallen soldiers.

Menashe Kadishman dies in May 2015.

Education

1947-50 Sculpture, with Moshe Sternschuss, Avni Institute of Art and Design, Tel Aviv

1951 Course in decorative arts, with Leo Roth and Aharon Giladi, Afikim

1954 Studied sculpture, with Rudi Lehman

1959-60 Art, St. Martin's School of Art, London

1961 Art, Slade School, London

Teaching

1964-1966 Wimbledon College of Arts

1966-1968 Visiting lecturer, Art schools in Reading, Canterbury and Winchester, England

1968-1972 Central art school, London

Awards And Prizes

1951 Scholarship for Rudi Lehmann class, Union of the Kvutzot and the Kibbutzim

1960 The America-Israel Cultural Fund Scholarship

1961 Grant from Sainsbury Fund, London

1967 Prize for Sculpture, Paris Biennale

1978 Sandberg Prize for Israeli Art, Israel Museum, Jerusalem

1981 Eugene Kolb Prize for Israeli Graphic Arts, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv

1981 Jury Prize, Norwegian International Print Biennale, Fredrikstad

1984 The Mendel and Eva Pundik Foundation Prize for an Israeli Artist, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv

1990 Dizengoff Prize for Painting and Sculpture, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Municipality of Tel Aviv-Jaffa

1995 Prize for Sculpture, Ministry of Education and Culture

2002 Honorary Fellowship, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv

2007 Honorary degree, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan

Environmental Sculptures

2006 Memorial monument for the Etzel, Haganah and Lehi underground organizations, Ramat Gan