Raffi Lavie’s (1937-2007) works were influential on the Israeli art scene. A combination of collage, paint, scribbles and erasures on plywood, this work at the Israel Museum questions the role of art even as it uses art to raise the question. The inclusion of found and simple materials gave birth to a movement called For Want of Material, an art form eschewing the materials traditionally associated with fine arts and an expressive style based on an internal, personal language, as opposed to a collective one. Lavie’s art was chosen to represent Israel in the 2009 Venice Biennale. (Image copyright Israel Museum, Jerusalem; work copyright Lavie’s estate, gift of Shaya Yariv, Gordon Gallery, Tel Aviv)