Yitzhak Greenfield

born 1932, Brooklyn, New York

Artist Name: Yitzhak Greenfield

Title: Moon over Jerusalem, 1971

Signature Description: Signed in Hebrew and dated "1971" lower right

Technique: Mixed media on cardboard

Image Size: 32 x 22 cm / 12.6" x 8.66" inch

Frame: The painting is matted and framed

Condition: Very good condition.

Artist's Biography:

Yitzhak Greenfield (Israeli - American, b. 1932)

Yitzhak Greenfield, painter, born 1932, Brooklyn, New York.
His focus is on the heavenly and the terrestrial Jerusalem; on the Hebrew alphabet; and on central themes in Jewish tradition and culture. He deals with the tension between figurative and abstract.

Education
1946 Educational Alliance Art School, New York City, with Abba Ostrowsky, Chaim Gross, and Louis Luzewick.
1948 Thomas Jefferson High School, Brooklyn, New York, Art
1953 Drawing and Drawing Wall Murals, Seminar at Givat Haviva with Perli Pelzig, Yohanan Simon, and Naftali Bezem.
1960 Printmaking with the artist and printmaker Borin, Venice, Italy
1979-1981 Blackburn Print Workshop, New York City, U.S.A.

Teaching
Art Kibbutz Gal-On and Gat
1961-1963 Arts, regional school at Mateh-Yehuda
Regional school, Mateh-Yehuda
Anglican school, Jerusalem
1965–70 Bet Haam, Popular University Outreach Program, Jerusalem
Ruth Youth Wing, Israel Museum, Jerusalem

Awards and Prizes
1948 Excellence Award in Art, Jefferson High School, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.
1955 Dizengoff Prize, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv
1956 Association for Jewish Art in Jerusalem, Prize for Jewish Art,
1960 The America-Israel Cultural Fund Scholarship
1983 Prize of the Association for Jewish Art, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Collections

The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Tel Aviv Museum of Art
Haifa Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Jewish Museum, New York
The Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York
The Victoria and Albert Museum, London

My Story
My search for a meaningful personal art expression began in my youth in Brooklyn NY, studying drawing and painting in the Educational Alliance Art School.
Making Aliya in 1951 and living a kibbutz life, inspired me to focus mainly on painting people and landscape. Moving to Jerusalem in the 1960’s, presented new challenges. Discovering this unique city and finding ways of expressing it in my work became my goal. Historic ruins and buildings, Hebrew letters, amulets and the world of the Bible and Kabbalah became the intrinsic content of my art.
On this website, you'll find a wide spectrum of my art work, which can be seen in my studio and gallery in Ein Karem, Jerusalem, and in museums, galleries and private collections around the world.

One Man Exhibitions

2018       Exploring Jerusalem mixed media, Schechter Institute, Jerusalem

2017       On Consciousness and Interiors Yitzhak and Gila Greenfield, Artspace, Tel Aviv

2015       Kibbutz Galon Drawings Beit Tarbut, Kibbutz Galon

2013       Jerusalem Paintings and Prints  Bar David Museum, Kibbutz Bar Am

2012       Locks and Pomegranates  photos, Nora Gallery, Jerusalem

2011       Kibbutz 1950-60  paintings, Minotaur Gallery, Tel Aviv

2011       Zoom 18 Photos  Gerstein Gallery, Tel Aviv 

2010       Rimonim  Ohel Shem Gallery, Ramat Gan

2010       Exploring Jerusalem  AACI, Jerusalem

2010       Prints from Archaeological Sources  Elul Center, Jerusalem

2008       Cycles of Heaven and Earth  A Retrospective, Artists House, Jerusalem

2007       The Kibbutz Years  pastel and mixed media, Nora Gallery, Jerusalem

2005       Zipporah Memorial Show  photos and drawings, Studio Greenfield

2003       Hebrew Letter Landscapes  Studio Greenfield, Ein Kerem, Jerusalem

2002       Kabbalah  Jewish Mysticism, The Jewish Museum, Stockholm, Sweden

2002       Recent Works  Studio Greenfield, Ein Kerem, Jerusalem

2001       Mystic Language of Art  The Dom Museum, Vienna, Austria

2001       Spring Show  Studio Greenfield, Ein Kerem, Jerusalem

2000       Jerusalem  Massman Gallery, Rockhurst University, Kansas City, MO

1999       Fall Show  Studio Greenfield, Ein Kerem, Jerusalem

1998       Jerusalem Visions  Palais Palffy, Vienna, Austria

1998       Mystic Jerusalem  Mundshenk Gallery, Wittenberg, Germany

1998       Jerusalem  Mittleman Jewish Community College, Portland, Oregon

1993       Mystic Language Paintings  Town Hall, Leersum, Holland

1992       Pomegranates and Landscape  Nora Gallery, Jerusalem, Israel

1991       Paintings on Folded Paper  American Cultural Center, Jerusalem

1990       Relief Prints and Paintings  Loeb Gallery, Bern, Switzerland

1990       Folded Paper Paintings  Artist House, Jerusalem, Israel

1988       Ein Kerem Landscapes  Ursus Press Gallery, Dusseldorf, Germany

1984       Jerusalem Towers and Letters  Nancy Stein Gallery, New York

1983       Collages  The Saxe Gallery, Toronto, Canada

1980       Prints and Paintings  University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin

1980       Cylinder Seal Prints  Gallery 3, Snug Harbor, Staten Island, NY

1980       Prints  Pascal Gallery, Toronto, Canada

1980       Middle Eastern Figure Drawings  Donnell Library, New York

1979       Jerusalem Visions  A. B. Condon Gallery, SoHo, New York

1978       Jerusalem Visions  Bank of Guatemala, Guatemala City

1977       Black and White Collages  Armon Gallery, Old City, Jerusalem

1976       Collages and Mixed Media  Old Jaffa Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel

1975       Collages and Prints  Magnes Museum, Berkeley, California

1972       Collages and Paintings  Renee Darom Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel

1967       Collages  Artists House, Jerusalem, Israel

1963       Landscapes  Beit Wilfred Museum, Kibbutz Hazorea, Israel

1962       Landscapes and Figures  Beit Chagall, Heifa, Israel

1961       Etchings  Ill Torchio Gallery, Venice, Italy

1959       Desert Landscapes  paintings and prints, Chemerinsky Gallery, Tel Aviv

Additional Information:

Yitzhak Greenfield: Exploring Jerusalem / at The Shechter Institute, Jerusalem, 2018

Curator: Shira Mushkin

Majestic scenes in blue, gold and indigo, radiating spheres and grand expanses hover above architectural forms and clusters of Hebrew letters, revealing dreamlike realities. These are the creations of the artist Yitzhak Greenfield who works in watercolor and acrylic paints layered with collages of painted papers, discarded book materials, and fragments of his own prints. Applying parts of broken furniture, clock springs, iron locks and keys, the artist forms assemblages that hint at familiar settings, resonating the past. For Brooklyn born, Israeli artist Yitzhak Greenfield, these visions are the essence of the Jerusalem landscape, inspired by the city’s ever-changing magical scenery.

For generations, Jerusalem has been a focal point for the Jewish people. It is the center of Jewish life, faith, hope, history, and consciousness. Jerusalem holds a particular significance for Greenfield, who moved to Ein Kerem, Jerusalem over fifty years ago, after living on a kibbutz. Greenfield is a Jerusalem artist, and he remarks: “Living and working in Jerusalem is a special journey for me. My works are visionary landscapes, which are reconstructions of Jerusalem, not always relating to specific sites.” The artist has always been intrigued by the historical and dynamic nature of the city, as he constantly explores his own connection to the traditional and spiritual forms of Judaism. Greenfield’s art is linked to Jewish and Israeli history and symbols, such as the Hebrew letters, Jewish amulets, and the Ten Sephirot (emanations), containing aesthetic qualities of the material and the spiritual.

Working in a distinctive modernist method, Greenfield’s artwork lends itself to rich possibilities of expression. The exhibition Yitzhak Greenfield: Exploring Jerusalem comprises three main series from the artist’s career, which span over the course of many years and continue to this day; Jerusalem Visions, Jerusalem Assemblages, and Landscape and Meditation on the Hebrew Letter. These artworks portray timeless dream-landscapes of Jerusalem. The hidden secrets of the city are locked away in assemblage constructions, and prints depicting Hebrew letters illuminate into mystical meanings. The spectator travels along with Greenfield through his creations, exploring Jerusalem and experiencing a spiritual and living Judaism, in which the artist constantly searches for the expression of his cultural and spiritual legacy as he reconstructs Jerusalem.

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