Yosl Bergner Figurative Paintings
Israeli, 1920-2017
Yosl Bergner was an Israeli painter who was born in Vienna in 1920 and grew up in Warsaw. With rampant anti-Semitism in Europe, the Freeland League for Jewish Territorial Colonization was formed in July 1935 to search for a potential Jewish homeland. Soon afterwards a pastoral firm offered the League about 16,500 square kilometers in the Kimberleys, stretching from the north of Western Australia into the Northern Territory. As history showed, the plans went nowhere. But for a time, the Australian idea was at least worth considering. Bergner's father, Melech Ravitch, became involved in a serious investigation of the Kimberleys. Thus the Bergner family moved to Australia.
Yosl emigrated to Australia in 1937 and studied in the National Gallery School until the outbreak of War World II. He served for four and a half years in the Australian Army, and later continued his studies at the Art School.
In Melbourne from 1937-48, Bergner befriended many of the local artists who now epitomize modern Australian art: Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker, John Perceval and Arthur Boyd. Adrian Lawlor moved with his wife to a cottage at Warrandyte where they lived for 30 years.
Bergner was a frequent visitor at this Warrandyte home. All the men socialized together. Bergner encouraged them to go beyond their traditional landscape style, and he introduced a more radical concern for working families, thus having an important impact on Australian art.
Bergner may not have been prepared for the plight of many struggling Australians. Yet he felt a strong connection between the suffering of people everywhere, whether they were the Jews that he remembered from Europe, landless blacks in the heart of Australia or hungry children in inner urban Melbourne.
He left Australia in 1948 and after two years of traveling and exhibiting in Paris, Montreal and New York, he settled in Israel. He lived in Safed until moving to Tel Aviv in 1957.
Bergner has designed scenery and costumes for the Yiddish and Hebrew Theatres, particularly for the plays of Nissim Aloni, and has illustrated many books. The acme of Bergner's paintings is his allegorical works; he uses kitchen tools such as squashed pots, oil lamps, wrecks and cracked jugs, and he anthropomorphizes them. These old instruments symbolize distorted and poor world of wars, secrets and darkness.to
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Artist: Yosl Bergner
The Solemn Morris Dancer
By Yosl Bergner
Located in London, GB
Oil on board
Image size: 5 3/4 x 7 inches (14.5 x 17.75 cm)
As can be seen in this painting, Surrealism served as a source of inspiration for Bergner, though he did not consider himself a surrealist but a lover of stories, and indeed narrative elements appear frequently in his work. He uses the “displacement” element, as the Surrealists did, and that is detaching the figures, objects or landscapes from the logical context and into a poetical-magical climate.
Nissim Aloni noted in 1983 He paints as though to install stabilizers against the turbulence of the dream, and perhaps these stabilizers serve him in time as a touchstone'.
The Artist
Yosl Bergner was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1920 and grew up in Warsaw, Poland.
With rampant anti-Semitism in Europe, the Freeland League for Jewish Territorial Colonization was formed in the United States in July 1935, to search for a potential Jewish homeland. Soon afterwards a pastoral firm in Australia offered the League about 16,500 square kilometres (6,400 sq mi) in the Kimberleys, stretching from the north of Western Australia into the Northern Territory. As history showed, the plans went nowhere. But for a time, the Australian idea was at least worth considering. Bergner's father, Melech Ravitch, became involved in a serious investigation of the Kimberley Plan.
In this way the Bergner family moved to Australia. Yosl emigrated to Australia in 1937 and studied in the National Gallery School in Melbourne. During World War II he served for four and a half years in the Australian Army, and later continued his studies at the Art School.
In Melbourne from 1937–48, Bergner befriended many of the local artists who now epitomize modern Australian art: Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker...
Category
Mid-20th Century Surrealist Yosl Bergner Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
Noah’s Ark, 1967 beautiful painting by Yosl Bergner
By Yosl Bergner
Located in Jerusalem, IL
This mesmerizing and richly detailed work by acclaimed Israeli artist Yosl Bergner offers a unique and dreamlike interpretation of Noah’s Ark. The composition is divided into arched ...
Category
1960s Yosl Bergner Figurative Paintings
Materials
Plywood, Oil
Vessels by Yosl Bergner - Still life painting, 1965
By Yosl Bergner
Located in London, GB
*PLEASE NOTE UK BUYERS WILL ONLY PAY 5% VAT ON THIS PURCHASE.
Vessels by Yosl Bergner (1920-2017)
Oil on canvas
65 x 81.4 cm (25 ⁵/₈ x 32 inches)
Signed and dated upper left
Execute...
Category
1960s Modern Yosl Bergner Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
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Yosl Bergner figurative paintings for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Yosl Bergner figurative paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Yosl Bergner in oil paint, paint, board and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the Surrealist style. Not every interior allows for large Yosl Bergner figurative paintings, so small editions measuring 6 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Moshe Katz, David Azuz, and Lazzaro Donati. Yosl Bergner figurative paintings prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $765 and tops out at $12,500, while the average work can sell for $6,633.