Artist Yosef Zaritsky Is Born

September 1, 1891
Yosef Zaritsky, one of Israel’s most renowned painters, is born near Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. Zaritsky studies at the Academy of Art in Kyiv and lives in Moscow before making aliyah in 1923 after a brief service in the Red Army.

Settling in Jerusalem and later moving to Tel Aviv, he is among the founders of the New Horizons (Ofakim Hadashim) movement, which emphasizes universality and trends toward the abstract. In 1955, he becomes the first Israeli artist to hold a one-man show in a major art center with his exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.

In 1958 a special art exhibition celebrating Israel’s first decade is held in Jerusalem, and Zaritsky’s painting Otzma (Might) is selected to hang in the front of the main entrance to the exhibition. On the night before the opening, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion views the exhibit. He is not pleased with Zaritsky’s painting, dismisses it with a wave of his hand, and has it moved to a remote corner. After the exhibtion, Zaritsky destroys the painting.

Despite Ben-Gurion’s disapproval, Zaritsky achieves much acclaim in Israel.