Bidspirit auction | Boris Schatz , 1866-1932

Boris Schatz , 1866-1932 - Different Subjects. Artist's name: Boris Schatz , 1866-1932 Item name: Different Subjects Technique: Lot includes 14 miniature metal reliefs Measurements: 47X48 cm Estimate: $300 - 400 Remarks: Silvered reliefs of Herzl and Jewish figures, framed together. Some reliefs needs cleaning. About The Artist: Boris Schatz is best known as the founding father and first director of the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts in Jerusalem. The school was founded in 1906 following discussions in the Seventh Zionist Congress in Basel (1905). The initiative was supported by Theodore Herzl. Bezalel was an art school, a museum and workshop. Arts and crafts were deliberately merged since Schatz believed that “it was impossible to be an artist without being an artisan.” The students at Bezalel studied Hebrew alongside art, testament to the school’s commitment to the Zionist vision. Born in Lithuania to an Orthodox family, Schatz travelled xtensively throughout Europe. After living in Paris during the early 1890s, he spent ten years in Bulgaria where he helped to found the Academy of Art in Sofia and was named crown sculptor of the court of Bulgaria. During this period (circa 1903-1904) Schatz, himself a staunch Zionist, began focusing on Jewish subjects in his sculpture and painting, as he believed his purpose as an artist was to ‘express the soul of the nation. BIBLIOGRAPHY: N. Shilo-Cohen, Bezalel 1906-1929 (Jerusalem, 1983), p. 19