Bidspirit auction | Yohanan Simon, Israeli 1905-1976 -

Yohanan Simon, Israeli 1905-1976 - - דמויות בנוף, 1968. Figures in a landscape, 1968; oil on board, signed and dated in Hebrew lower right '68' and signed lower left 'Yohanan Simon', 15.8 x 21.1 cm Note: From 1954 Simon had travelled widely in Europe and South America, and this experience would be reflected in the more abstracted and sculptural style seen in the present work. This demonstrates not only the artist's engagement with Post-War European figurative painting, but the experience of expansiveness of the South American landscape. Born in Germany, Simon studied in Paris in the 1930s with Andre Derain, before moving to Israel in 1937 and becoming part of the Kibbutz Gan Shmuel. In the 1950s his work would reflect the joys of daily life in the Kibbutz, in an monumental style similar to both Diego Riviera and Fernand Leger, and reflecting the artist's socialist ideals. Simon exhibited repeatedly internationally and in London during the 1950s, at the O'Hana Gallery, as well as the Ben Uri Gallery in 1951. Works are in UK collections the Ben Uri Gallery and the British Museum, and major collections worldwide including the Jewish Museum, New York. Recently there was a retrospective dedicated to the artist at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in 2001.