Bio & Information
Isaac Amitai (Israel 1907-1984) Bio
ISAAC AMITAI – Fifth Generation in Israel
Painter, musician and lecturer in aesthetics, Jerusalem-born – Isaac Amitai studied art at the Bezalel Art School, subsequently going to Egypt to pursue his studies under the painter Shlomo Naroni – During the ‘thirties he continued his studies at the Academy of Art in Paris Since 1940 he has been a member of the Society of Painters and Sculptors of Tel Aviv and is a regular contributor to the art exhibitions of the Society Amitai has held one-man shows in London, Leeds, Paris, New York and various cities of the U.S – He has also participated in the exhibitions of Israeli artists in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand Isaac Amitai has long been searching for the;, mysterious blue” of night-time Safed in its shadowy alleys and among the dim figures of the mystical city who have become shrouded in legend while still alive During the past few years he has devoted his artistic imagination to this subject and at his last one-man show at the Artists’ House in Tel Aviv he exhibited scores of canvasses showing ” Sated at Night” – This exhibition which had originally been intended for the famous Bernheim -Jeune Gallery scored a great success in Israel as well as in Paris
1922-1925 student at Bezalel Jerusalem
1924-1928 music student by prof Rosovsky
1926-1950 member of “hagana”
1928-1930 studied with Shlomo Naroni and the Italian academy in Cairo
1931-1934 studied in Ecole superleure de la Ville de Paris
EXHIBITIONS
1939 Katz Gallery, Tel Aviv
1940-1949 Exhibitions in different part in Israel
1950-1951 3 Exhibitions in England: London, Leeds and Bedford
1957 1950-1965 One-man show in the Tel Aviv Museum Took part in different exhibitions organised by the Israeli Government in different parts in the world
1959-1960 8 Exhibitions in U.S.A.: in New York, Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, etc
1951-1975 Member and founder among the first in the artists’ colony of Sated
1940-1966 Lecturer on Art in the Popular University of Tel Aviv and other institutes 5 January Exhibition in the Artists-Gallery in Tel Aviv
17-31 ·March 1965 One man show in “Galerie Marcel Bernheim Paris
November 1966 Retrospective exhibition in Museum “Yad-Lebanim” & Petach-Tikva
July, August 72, A special exhibition in Safed of paintings which will be exhibited in Europe
September-December 1972 – Paris Gallery Sandoz
March – 1973, Exhibition in Geneva, Switzerland
March 1975 – Exhibition Gallery Chemerinsky, Tel-Aviv The exhibition in Sated stay open all year long
Hundreds of his works are in different museums and collections in different parts of the world
There are an album and a book with nine-reproductions in colours, 20 black and white
Excerpts from:
“DAVAR”, Israeli daily paper:
. .. ” Amltai paints with strength and a mature grasp of composition Not only his musical subjects sing but even his landscapes of Jerusalem and Safed are full of song and the rhythms of music”.
“JERUSALEM POST”:
Dr. D. R. Friedman
. .. ” The musical subjects In his paintings have a great feeling of musical sound It is hard to imagine any artist translating another art into his medium more successfully than Amltai has done”.
- Misels
PICTURES ON EXHIBIT: TRIBUTE TO A COLLECTOR:
Amltai, an Israeli artist at the Marcel Bernheim Gallery, depicts the ancient city of Sated, capital of Galilea In an Impressive original style He shows single figures climbing the rising stairways of the ancient capital In a way which suggests drama Using a dense impasto with metallic blues and greys, he evokes the spirit of this ancient land and its phantom memories The artist has lived in Safed for 21 years.
TRAVELLER’S GUIDE TO EUROPE’S ART:
Amitai is among the best known of the Safed artists SWISS – ZURICH : from the “New Israel” monthly paper : Its success has compensated the effort of this pains taking artist : we perceive a rare reflection of his inner life and all the richness of his emotions through the meeting of subdued colours which interprets the world in a rigorous scale of sonorous vibrations of contained fervour. V.C.E. GLEINY
“APOLLO”, Belgium:
Amitai is painting the mystic atmosphere in a surrealistic and imaginative way.
- MILAN
AMITAI is originated from an Israeli-Oriental environment, which dominates all his aspirations, images and creations in art Amitai’s art is a full expression of his personal visions and personality since his childhood In the creations of Amitai are two streams interwoven:
- Extreme dedication to oriental ornaments and arabesques in his Jerusalem paintings:
- Through his views of Zefat and his drawings of the inside Synagogues Amitai transmits to the viewer the visions, legends and mystics, which is the highlight of this city during centuries
GAVAIEL TALPHIR
”ART S AND REVIEWS”, London:
“Amitai’s oils are happy and the rich colours convey the violence of his emotion Amitai is indeed an interesting painter … ”
David Waring
“YORKSHIRE POST”, Leeds:
“In Amitai’s paintings eastern and western mingle With their simplified forms, their broad areas of lustrous colour, their arabesques and expressive rhythms, -his compositions are both decorative and full of “feeling.”
- T. Oliver
“L’AURORE”, dated 31.3.1965:
Amitai has imagination … in all his paintings a silhouette is hinted at supple and slightly bent on staircases
- F.
“LE PEINTRE”, dated 1.4.1965:
Amitai works in dense impasto, achieving thereby sharp reliefs like rocks It is a good exposition
Jean Chabanon
“LA TERRE RETROUVEE”, dated 1.4.1965:
This painter has made it his task to express the nocturnal atmosphere, the most secret dreams of the old town with its narrow winding streets all of a sudden intersected by arches which seem to defy the laws of geometry.
CLOD ROJER MARXS:
Amitai is very Imaginative and can achieve a lot in art.
ARTS” dated 31.3.1965:
Amltai has devoted himself to the lyrical surroundings of Safad, choosing dense impasto, like enamel, in subdued harmony, evoking thereby vitraux Amltai translates the streets. arches and staircases of this town into original compositions and the town transforms itself Into a mystical dream reflecting his meditations In all their intensity.
“LES LETTRES FRANCAISES”
dated 1.4.1965:
- S.
Arnita! Is strongest when painting the interior of synagogues, revealing then to the utmost his temperament of a painter and the poetical spirit of his meditations
- Froche
