Lot 135: Ephraim Lifshitz (Israeli, 1909-2004) Oriental figures

Oriental figures
indistinctly signed in Hebrew and dated '95' (lower left)
oil on canvas
54 x 73cm (21 1/4 x 28 3/4in).

EXHIBITED:
Tel Aviv, The Artist's Association, Three Angles, Oil Paintings, Efraim Lifshitz, 1998, illustrated p. 5

In the early fifties Ephraim Lifshitz's paintings still tended towards impressionistic sensitivities combined with expressionism in the manner of the school of Paris. During this decade, the influence of Streichman and Stematsky became gradually evident in his quest for free staining and for techniques of transparency, while that of Janco appeared in the sharp shapes, the contour lines and the graphic structure of a number of his paintings. Lifshitz's art from this period is characterized by Oriental motifs and by a tendency toward colourful harmonies. He painted the landscapes of Old Jaffa, Tiberias, Safed, Eilat and Tel Aviv; interiors with a clear tendency toward French painting; compositions of Arab women with pitchers, figures with donkeys, shepherds and sheep, boats, etc.

Very soon, however, Lifshitz became identified with 'The Group of Ten' – a name chosen at random by ten artists who in 1951 organized themselves to mount a group exhibition. 'The Group of Ten' was active at about the same time as the New Horizons group, which was founded a short while before the establishment of the State of Israel, and bequeathed to Israeli art the abstraction of the fifties and the early sixties.