73 Facts About Yitzhak Frenkel

Yitzhak Frenkel, known as Isaac Frenkel or Alexandre Frenel, was an Israeli painter, sculptor and teacher.

Yitzhak Frenkel was one of the leading Jewish artists of the l'Ecole de Paris and its chief practitioner in Israel, gaining international recognition during his lifetime.

Yitzhak Frenkel is accredited with bringing the influence of the l'Ecole de Paris to Israel, which until then was dominated by Orientalism.

Yitzhak Frenkel died in Tel Aviv in 1981 and was buried in Safed Old Jewish Cemetery.

Yitzhak Frenkel was born in Odessa, Russian Empire to a Jewish family.

Yitzhak Frenkel was a great-grandson of Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev.

Yitzhak Frenkel immigrated to Mandate Palestine in 1919 with the first wave of settlers of the Third Aliyah, on board the SS.

Yitzhak Frenkel established the Ha-Tomer artists' cooperative along with the art patron Jacob Pereman, the painters Judith and Joseph Konstantinovsky Had Gadya and the sculptor Lev Halperin.

Yitzhak Frenkel sketched and later painted the aftermath of the battle.

Yitzhak Frenkel then studied in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere at the studios of the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle and painter Henri Matisse.

Yitzhak Frenkel arrived in Paris just a few months after the death of Modigliani.

Yitzhak Frenkel was evicted from his room and forced to live in the streets and under the bridges, leading a life seeking only art and basic necessities.

Yitzhak Frenkel lived in Montparnasse and exhibited his work with his contemporaries and friends, Chaim Soutine, Michel Kikoine, Jules Pascin, Streling, Kostia Terechkovitch along with other Jewish artists of the Ecole de Paris.

Yitzhak Frenkel would spend time in La Ruche in Montparnasse where he would meet other painters of the era.

Yitzhak Frenkel would participate in long sessions with his fellow Jewish artists; he described thus their art: "members of the minority characterized by restlessness whose expressionism is therefore extreme in its emotionalism".

Yitzhak Frenkel exhibited at the Salon des Independants alongside other artists of the time such as Soutine.

Yitzhak Frenkel exhibited at the Salon d'Automne, and the Salon des Arts Sacres.

Yitzhak Frenkel returned to Palestine in 1925, where he revolutionized the visual arts.

Yitzhak Frenkel opened the Histadrut Art School in Tel Aviv, the first studio of modern art in mandatory Palestine.

Yitzhak Frenkel was considered extreme in his artistic orientations by his contemporaries.

Yitzhak Frenkel's style was closer to the abstract and cubist painting of Paris than the orientalism popular in Palestine at that time.

Yitzhak Frenkel was one of the country's first abstract painters.

Yitzhak Frenkel did not demand even one grush from his students for his teaching.

Yitzhak Frenkel's students included Shimshon Holzman, Mordechai Levanon, David Hendler, Joseph Kossonogi, Genia Berger and Siona Tagger.

Yitzhak Frenkel was a mentor to Bezalel students Avigdor Stematsky, Yehezkel Streichman, Moshe Castel, and Arie Aroch.

Yitzhak Frenkel taught his students about Cezanne and Van Gogh and techniques he had learned in France.

Yitzhak Frenkel had a pivotal role in propelling the art and cultural scene into modern trends.

Yitzhak Frenkel taught his students the principles of color, texture and composition.

Yitzhak Frenkel exposed his students to Jewish Expressionism as well as the intellectual basis and techniques of French art.

Yitzhak Frenkel felt that he could not express the pioneers' struggle for survival in abstract art.

In reaction to European events, the Ecole de Paris artists including Yitzhak Frenkel returned to paint in a more humanist style, in light of this Yitzhak Frenkel began to paint in a more realistic style.

Yitzhak Frenkel first encountered Safed after his Aliya to Mandatory Palestine in 1919, the ancient city left a deep impression on the young artist.

Yitzhak Frenkel was entranced and mystified by the city's colours, its shades of blue, the chants of prayer and the alleyways.

Yitzhak Frenkel, found in Safed a spirituality and inspiration that was harder to find elsewhere.

Yitzhak Frenkel painted the ancient synagogues, narrow lanes, rabbis and their students, scenes of Jewish life, local residents and the landscape of Mount Meron.

Yitzhak Frenkel painted Jacob fighting the angel against the backdrop of Safed's mountains.

Yitzhak Frenkel sought not to explore Safed's reality but the underlying mystery and burning emotionality of the ancient city.

In 1934, Yitzhak Frenkel published an article on French Art in the art monthly Gazith, a piece that was highly influential at the time.

Yitzhak Frenkel painted Safed, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, the Negev desert as well as the Galilee.

Yitzhak Frenkel made 13 exhibitions on the motif of Safed up-to 1950.

Yitzhak Frenkel was part of the Bohemian cultural life of Tel Aviv.

Yitzhak Frenkel made several portraits during this time, several of them his friends.

Yitzhak Frenkel was commissioned in the 1930s to decorate the Belgian Pavilion in the Levant Fair.

In 1938, Yitzhak Frenkel reopened a studio in his Tel Aviv home where he taught mostly young students, among these were Ori Reisman, Dadi Ben Yehuda, Claire Yaniv and others.

In 1941, Yitzhak Frenkel moved to kibbutz Giva'at Brenner, there he taught art in the local school, teaching students from Givat Brenner and the nearby kibbutz Hulda.

Yitzhak Frenkel held a solo exhibition in the Tel Aviv Museum of Art that covered the entire second floor.

Yitzhak Frenkel was heavily criticized by some for the latter who attested that the artist had ought to wait and understand more fully what had occurred.

Yitzhak Frenkel interpreted it as art imposed on Russian artists and contrary to the spirit of the "Artistes Independants" of which he was a part.

In 1948, Yitzhak Frenkel painted the first meeting of the Knesset as well as the first meeting of the military committee of the IDF.

Yitzhak Frenkel made portraits of the first 120 MKs, only few were finished or carried out in oil such as Uri Zvi Greenberg's portrait.

Whilst Yitzhak Frenkel was commissioned to create a monumental work, which would have portrayed 150 people including the entire First Knesset, Israel's President and Prime Minister, diplomats, journalists and other dignitaries.

Yitzhak Frenkel was the first painter chosen by the State of Israel to represent the Jewish State at the Venice Bienniale.

Yitzhak Frenkel represented Israel in 1952 in the 26th Biennale.

Yitzhak Frenkel was recognized as artist of the year by HaOlam HaZeh for 1949 and by Yedioth Ahronot for the year 1953.

Yitzhak Frenkel distanced himself from most of the artists of the colony, leading to the colony's resentment of him.

Yitzhak Frenkel opened a short lived Academy for Art in his Safed home in 1950.

In South Africa, Yitzhak Frenkel was very well received, especially by the South African Jewish community.

Yitzhak Frenkel received positive acclaim from art critiques, especially in regards to his paintings describing Jewish subjects and Safed, he was described as a mystical painter.

In January 1954, Yitzhak Frenkel exhibited his work in Muizenberg near Cape Town.

Yitzhak Frenkel's art was well received for not messaging propaganda and instead focusing on the picturesque and or human subjects of Israel and its attaining of international standard without attempted glorification.

In May 1954, Yitzhak Frenkel presented in Cape Town expressionist watercolors and pastels of South African landscapes as well as lively colorful sketches of Zulu figures.

Yitzhak Frenkel's art appeared on the cover of Jewish Affairs, in December 1953 and January 1954.

Yitzhak Frenkel's work appeared in the cover of Masques et Visages on the 29th of June 1955.

Yitzhak Frenkel exposed his art as part of an official French delegation in an exhibition at Galeries Lafayette in London in 1956.

Yitzhak Frenkel painted clowns, the circus, sailors, boatmen as well as the landscapes of France, especially the coast of La Rochelle, Cote d'Azur, Bretagne and Paris.

Yitzhak Frenkel did several series' of paintings of Venice, where he had exhibited several times.

Yitzhak Frenkel painted more frequently still life and nature, his art, especially his coloring technique receiving acclaim in several French press journals.

Yitzhak Frenkel showed his work in one-man shows in museums and galleries in Europe, the Americas, South Africa and Asia, returning periodically to Israel.

In July 1979, Yitzhak Frenkel had a one-man show at the Orangerie in Paris.

Yitzhak Frenkel's colours reveal his hidden emotions and express passion and drama.

Yitzhak Frenkel died in 1981 in Tel Aviv and was buried in Safed.

Yitzhak Frenkel won the Dizengoff Prize for painting four times, in 1938,1939,1940 and again in 1948.

Yitzhak Frenkel took part in the 24th and 25th Venice Biennales, firstly a pre-independence exhibit and then represented the first time Israel participated.