Joseph Hirsch - 'Non Still Life', 18.02.06-18.03.06
Israeli Art, Yemin Moshe, Jerusalem
Joseph Hirsch, one of the greatest drawing artists in Israel, is practically a 'tag name' in Jerusalem, a living myth and an admired teacher, who has taught generations of students.
Born in Germany (1920), Hirsch studied drawing at a young age. In Israel, after having made Aliya in 1939, he studied at Bezalel, where he became especially fascinated with drawing. For years he made a living off graphics. It was only in 1960 that he held his first exhibit, which took place in "Beit Chagall" in Haifa. In 1964, after his exhibit in "Beit Ha'Omanim" in Jerusalem, he was offered a teaching position in Bezalel, where he eventually became the admirable and mythical drawing teacher. The gallery has had the honor of exhibiting his works on a number of occasions, at the end of the seventies and during the eighties. These exhibits were a source of inspiration for the students and graduates of Bezalel. His works have always stood out for their technical wholeness and virtuosity. Hirsch's works are a product of observing nature and they reflect his ability to observe and analyze the different objects, with special focus on the relation between them, as well as the way the light falls on them.
Hirsch is a master artist, who fully controls the techniques, and has the ability to analyze the objects and decompose them into stains of light and shade, thereby reconstructing them. Often it is the light that emerges from the paper, which is left blank and clean, that receives special emphasis. Similarly to a sculptor who works with stone, Hirsch constructs the objects, layer by layer of gray, until he achieves sorts of crystals that are made of small flat brush strokes and angles, which react to the light that shines on them. The delicate and sensitive brush strokes bring about rare qualities of calculated structuring, and it is in this fashion that tension between the sentiment and intellect emerges. The use of black and white creates a minimalism that empowers expression, with no need for additional color. Hirsch appears to make use of the Chinese-Japanese reductionism, which along with the European tradition he grew up on, leads to a personal and unique style of drawing. His handwriting can be recognized from afar, and as such, he does not really fit into any existing stylistic frame. Hirsch's still life drawings are the rarest of his works, though in this exhibit they constitute the majority, to which several works of imaginary drawings have been added. These drawings of the imaginary address existential social situations such as fear, sadness, and hesitation. Perhaps most striking is the humor which turns these situations into grotesque ones. It is these same characteristics that Hirsch transfers onto his still life drawings – that which attributes these drawings certain animation, motion and humor. The dishes and the fruit as if converse with each other, move towards each other, seemingly teasing one another, but above all there seems to be some dialogue between light and shade.
The works are not large in size but they all possess immense power and each constitutes a masterpiece of its own.
Ella Klier Ariel Joseph Hirsch 's Gallery... |  |