Portrait of a Girl, a painting by Chaim Atar (1902-1953).
Oil on panel. Signed.
Chaim Atar (Apteker, 1902-1953) was born in Zlatopol, Ukraine. In his youth he was a member of the "Pirchei Zion" organization in his town and during the 1919 pogroms in Ukraine, joined a Jewish self-defense group. In 1922 he immigrated to Palestine and was one of the founders of Kibbutz Ein Harod. Atar, one of the leading artists of Palestine who was awarded the 1943 Dizengoff Prize, was an autodidact. Over the years, he had spent long periods of time in Paris, where he was influenced by Eastern European artists of the School of Paris, and especially by Chaim Soutine. Atar mostly created portraits and expressionist still-life paintings. He took on himself the care for the artistic aspect of the Kibbutz life. The paintings he created for his kibbutz decorated the dining room during the Jewish holidays for many years. In 1937, he founded the Mishkan Museum of Art in Ein-Harod, which at first was located in a small wooden cabin, and in which he collected works of art by Jewish and Israeli artists alongside reproductions of masterpieces. He also built a collection of Judaica artifacts in order to preserve the traditions of Jewish art. In 1948, the cornerstone of the permanent building of the museum was laid, with Atar serving as its first director until his death (see: website of the Mishkan Museum of Art, Ein Harod).
49X39 cm. Good condition. A minor fracture at the edge of the panel. Framed: 71X60 cm. Minor fractures in the frame.
Provenance: The Uzi Agassi Collection.