Tova Berlinski “In Memory” 23.06.2006 – 20.07.2006
Israeli Art, Yemin Moshe, Jerusalem
Art is the breath of Tova Berlinski's spirit – a singer and actress in her youth who turned to art after the age of thirty.
She studied in Bezalel and then in Paris where then in the Fifties she became acquainted with abstract expressionism and adapted this as the style in her works.
Tova started to paint abstract. Until the early Seventies Tova's paintings are characterized by bright colorfulness, free brush strokes and thick layers of paint. Behind each expressive outburst, which sometimes appears to be scribbling or childish shapes were hidden characteristics in her soul and hints of objects of nature. “Behind every painting lies a story based on my life in the town in Poland” (from Tova Berlinski's Catalogue 2002). Tova was born and raised in the town of Oswiecim, Poland and immigrated to Israel before World War II, before the world “turned upside down” and the awful Auschwitz Camp was erected. For this reason her memories of this place are beautiful. Memories of a warm family, of love and happiness, flowers in the garden and green landscapes. “I wanted to express the colorfulness while everyone was still alive (Catalogue 2002).” All this was brought to an end when many members of her family perished in the Holocaust. Only years later can Tova express the pain. In the meantime the abstract painting which hints and hides was her way of expressing. With time her style changed, her paintings became minimalistic, and the colorfulness became lighter. Gradually the connection to nature strengthened and the abstract decreased. Tova Berlinski's works became more figurative. Once again the paintings take on an expressive character expressing the hidden pain climaxed in the paintings of black flowers exhibited in the Israel Museum in 1995. The current exhibition presents flowers. Childhood memories of garden flowers from her home become memorial flowers. They are kept in a vase or pitcher. Some of the flowers have not opened, the petals remained closed, others, petals are spread, edges severed and their mouths are opened wide screaming. Tova's flowers are tombstones for the unknown graves of all her loved ones who were murdered.
In their memory. In the past years Tova commemorates the portraits of her relatives based on old photographs. Tova Berlinski won the Jerusalem Prize in 1963 and in 2002 the Mordechai Ish Shalom Award for her life's work and her special contribution to art. She has presented her works in many exhibitions in Israel and abroad including the Haifa Museum of Modern Art, Herzliya Museum and Israel Museum. In the seventies Tova was a member of “Aklim” in her attempt to express her Israeli identity through her work. She lives and works in Jerusalem. Her paintings are full of atmosphere with an exclusive nuance created by an artist living here, breathing in the air and landscapes while also remembering another place. There is currently an exhibition taking place in Tova's hometown Oswiecim where she is received with great honor. She sees this as an important link to build up healthy human relations after all the sickness, bereavement and pain suffered by this town. Ella Kalir Ariel Tova Berlinski's Gallery... | 