Arieh Allweil (1901-1967), Women at the Market.
Oil on paper. Signed.
39.5X75.5 cm. Good condition. Tears and small holes to margins. Narrow rectangular cut to top left corner (not affecting painting).
Arieh Allweil (1901-1967), born in Boibrik (Bíbrka, Galicia), established a group of "HaShomer Hatza'ir" in his hometown and in 1920 immigrated to Palestine as a pioneer. He was one of the founders of Upper Bitaniyah, the first settlement attempt of "HaShomer HaTzair" in Palestine. In 1921, following the Bitaniyah Affair, he quit the group and returned to Europe to study art at the Vienna Art Academy. During his studies there he joined the Kunstschau group of avant-garde artists, whose members also included Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele, made his first works of art, including the series of prints "Turah Aforah" inspired by his time at Upper Bitaniyah, and displayed his works in the group's exhibitions. In 1926, he returned to Palestine, where he worked as a painter and teacher, and was one of the founders of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, The Israel Painters and Sculptors Association, and the "HaMidrasha" art school in Tel Aviv. He also self-published his books, in the "Hillel" publishing house he had founded. In his artistic work – his paintings of the views of Palestine and his activity as a central figure in Israeli artistic circles – Arieh Allweil continued his life's work as a pioneer.
Arieh Allweil worked en plein air. During his first years in Palestine, he struggled to adjust to the local light. However, with time he developed his own unique style of landscape painting, working mostly in the soft morning light. In his autobiographical writings, he reminiscenced: "For two years I destroyed everything I painted. The Eretz-Israeli landscape denied itself to a painter from the Vienna woods [...] The blazing sun tore my pictures with dullness. It is not easy to 'conquer' this landscape […] The Eretz Israeli landscape pushed all traces of Cubism, and of Fauvism too, out of my paintings" (Arieh Allweil: Letters, Figures, Landscapes, by Galia Bar Or. Mishkan Museum of Art, Ein Harod, 2015. p. 90).
Provenance: The Uzi Agassi Collection.

"The Ten Plagues", two sketches for an illustration accompanying the Passover Haggadah, made by Arieh Allweil (1901-1967). [Israel, ca. early 1950s].
1. Sheet of paper depicting a soldier throwing a grenade against the backdrop of a battlefield, surrounded by ten preliminary sketches of miniatures representing the Ten Plagues.
Mixed media on paper. Signed.
50X62 cm. Good condition. Abrasions. Small closed and open tears. Pinholes.
2. Hollow rectangular paper sheet (complementing the abovementioned illustration), depicting ten miniatures of the Ten Plagues. Each miniature incorporates the first letter of the plague. This is the final version of the sketches described in paragraph 1.?Mixed media on paper.
50X64 cm. Good condition. Pinholes to margins. Stains and traces of tape. Printing instructions in pen on the margins.
The illustration was printed in a Passover Haggadah accompanied by an introduction and commentaries by Max Brod and Y.M. Lask and seventeen illustrations by Allweil. Tel Aviv: "Sinai", [1954].
Arieh Allweil (1901-1967), born in Boibrik (Bíbrka, Galicia), established a group of "HaShomer Hatza'ir" in his hometown and in 1920 immigrated to Palestine as a pioneer. He was one of the founders of Upper Bitaniyah, the first settlement attempt of "HaShomer HaTzair" in Palestine. In 1921, following the Bitaniyah Affair, he quit the group and returned to Europe to study art at the Vienna Art Academy. During his studies there he joined the Kunstschau group of avant-garde artists, whose members also included Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele, made his first works of art, including the series of prints "Turah Aforah" inspired by his time at Upper Bitaniyah, and displayed his works in the group's exhibitions. In 1926, he returned to Palestine, where he worked as a painter and teacher, and was one of the founders of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, The Israel Painters and Sculptors Association, and the "HaMidrasha" art school in Tel Aviv. He also self-published his books, in the "Hillel" publishing house he had founded. In his artistic work – his paintings of the views of Palestine and his activity as a central figure in Israeli artistic circles – Arieh Allweil continued his life's work as a pioneer.
Arieh Allweil worked en plein air. During his first years in Palestine, he struggled to adjust to the local light. However, with time he developed his own unique style of landscape painting, working mostly in the soft morning light. In his autobiographical writings, he reminiscenced: "For two years I destroyed everything I painted. The Eretz-Israeli landscape denied itself to a painter from the Vienna woods [...] The blazing sun tore my pictures with dullness. It is not easy to 'conquer' this landscape […] The Eretz Israeli landscape pushed all traces of Cubism, and of Fauvism too, out of my paintings" (Arieh Allweil: Letters, Figures, Landscapes, by Galia Bar Or. Mishkan Museum of Art, Ein Harod, 2015. p. 90).
Provenance: The Uzi Agassi Collection.

Twelve portraits of Gabriel Talphir, art critic and editor of the journal "Gazith". 1960s-1970s.
Twelve portraits in various media (pencils, ink, pastel and more, on paper), by artists Joshua Neustein (b. 1940); David Messer (1912-1999); David Azuz (b. 1942), Abba Fenichel (1906-1986); Shaoul Smira (b. 1939); Yitzhak Amitai (1907-1984); Chaim Rosenthal (1938-2011); David Gerstein (b. 1944); Aliza Nahor (1915-1987); and Sarah Voscoboinic (?) (1901-1968).
Gabriel Talphir (1901-1990), an art critic, poet, editor and translator, was born in Stanislaw, Galicia, and immigrated to Palestine in 1925. He was the founder of the journal "Gazith" which featured articles about art history, theater and architecture, critique, short monographs of artists (mainly Israeli and Jewish artists) and black and white reproductions of works of art. For many years, "Gazith" was the only journal in Israel dedicated mostly to plastic arts. Being a central figure in the Israeli art scene, Talphir was the subject of many portraits by various artists.
Most of the portraits are signed and dated.
Size and condition vary. Good overall condition. Stains and blemishes.

Les amours de Psyché et de Cupidon [The Love of Cupid and Psyche] by Apuleius. Paris: Librairie de Firmin-Didot, 1880 (date on the cover: 1881). French. A copy with a large "Ex Libris" drawing by Leah Goldberg.
French translation of the story Cupid and Psyche from The Golden Ass by Roman author Lucius Apuleius. Accompanied by 32 plates of prints after paintings by Raphael, signed in the plate "C. Normand" (Charles Pierre Joseph Normand?).
Re-bound, with new endpapers (original cover laid down). Ink drawing by poet Leah Goldberg on front endpaper – on the right, a woman is seen (Goldberg herself?) holding a sign reading "Lea Goldberg". On the upper part of the illustration appears the inscription "Ex Libris".
[37] pp + 32 plates, approx. 32 cm. Fair condition. Stains, an open tear and pieces of paper glued to margins of endpaper with Goldberg's drawing (not affecting drawing). Small tears to edges of leaves. Large open tears to original back cover. Inked stamps to back endpaper.
This edition of the book is not listed in OCLC.
Provenance: The Tuvya Ruebner Collection.