art.wikisort.org - Artist

Zahara Schatz (Hebrew: זהרה ש"ץ; 1916–1999), was an Israeli artist, craftsperson, and designer.[1][2] She was the daughter of Boris Schatz, who founded the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. She was best known for the six-branched menorah she designed for the entrance to the Yad Vashem, Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust.[3]

Zahara Schatz
זהרה ש"ץ
Zahara Schatz
Born	Zohara Schatz (1916-07-20)July 20, 1916 Jerusalem, Jerusalem Sanjak, Ottoman Empire
Died	August 4, 1999(1999-08-04) (aged 83) Jerusalem, Israel
Nationality	Israeli
Other names	Zohara Sandow, Zahara Sandow, Zahara Schatz Sandow
Education	École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs, Académie de la Grande Chaumière
Occupation	Artist, craftsperson, designer
Known for	Painting, sculpture, plastic arts
Movement	Israeli art
Spouse	Elliott Franz Sandow
Parent	Boris Schatz (father)

Early life and education

Zohara ("Zahara") Schatz (later Sandow) was born on July 20, 1916 in Jerusalem, Jerusalem Sanjak, Ottoman Empire.[4] Her father was Boris Schatz and her brother was artist Bezalel or "Lilik".[5]

She studied at the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs (English: National School of Decorative Arts) in Paris from 1934 to 1937.[6] As well as classes at Académie de la Grande Chaumière.[2]

The Schatz children were both artists and rejected their father's predilection for Romantic Classicism and his dogged development of a Jewish Eretz Israel-style, in favor of a European-American modernism.[7] However she followed her father's dualism: the pursuit of both fine art and crafts (or design).

Career

After graduation Schatz moved to the United States, settling in California.[6] She married American sculptor Elliott Franz Sandow (1910–1976).[6][8] In the 1940s Schatz taught art classes at the California Labor School in Berkeley.[6] She started working in plastic in the 1940s, designing and building acrylic lamps.[6]

Schatz was part of the Big Sur artists'/writers' colony that included San Francisco sculptor Benny Bufano, author Henry Miller, her sister-in-law Louise Schatz, and her brother Bezalel Schatz. She lived in Berkeley, California, where she was close with courtroom sketch artist Rosalie Ritz, her husband Erwin Ritz and their daughter, publisher and managing editor of The Environmentalist, Janet Ritz.^{[citation needed]}

She rose to prominence in Israel and overseas during this time, and Schatz exhibited and won prestigious prizes in the U.S. and Europe. In 1951, Schatz won an award for the Table Lamp Model No. T-4-S, at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City.[6] Her winning table lamp design was manufactured by the Heifez Company, the sponsor of the MoMA competition.[6][9]

In the same year of 1951, she returned to Israel, however she maintained a residency in Berkeley, California up until the 1970s.[6] In 1951, Zahara Schatz, Bezalel Schatz, and her sister-in-law Louise Schatz formed a craft workshop "Yaad" located in Israel, and rooted in European-American modernism.[10][11]

In 1959, she participated in the Venice Biennale of 1959 and designed the gate, built at the Bezalel Academy for Art and Design for the President's House.^{[citation needed]}

She worked as an adviser on industrial design at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for Israel.[12][13]

Schatz died of a long illness in Jerusalem on August 4, 1999, at the age of 83.[3]

Awards and recognition

• 1951: award for a table lamp design, Table Lamp Model No. T-4-S, "Low-Cost Lighting Competition/Exhibition", the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, New York[6]
• 1955: Israel Prize, for the Fine Arts Award[14][15]
• 1954: medal of honor, Milan Triennial (Triennale di Milano)
• 1959: Dizengoff Prize for Sculpture[16]
• 1959: participation in the Venice Biennale
• 1960: Yad Vashem Prize, for a six-branch candelabrum
• 1991: Shoshanna Ish-Shalom Prize, Jerusalem

Exhibitions

• "Zahara Schatz: A Retrospective. The Third Exhibition in the Schatz House Series, celebrating 100 Years of Israeli Art," The Artists' House, Jerusalem, 2006.

See also

• List of Israeli women artists
• List of Israel Prize recipients
• Visual arts in Israel

References

Further reading

• Eva Elisa Wardi (2005). "The poet of light, Zahara Schatz," documentary film, Jerusalem: Israel Museum, The Gabriel Scherover Information Center of Israeli Art, DVD collections, 52 min.:48 sec.
• Exhibition catalog, Gideon Ofrat (2006). Zahara Schatz 1916–999, Jerusalem: The Artists' House.
• Meir Ronnen (20 July 2006). "The last Schatz," The Jerusalem Post.

External links

• "Zahara Schatz". Information Center for Israeli Art. Israel Museum. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
• Art of Zahara Schatz at Europeana. Retrieved February 2014
• Israeli Art Guide

---