Auction 80 - Part I - Jewish and Israeli History, Art and Culture
Three Issues of the "Leviathan" Journal Edited and Published by Michail Grobman – Jerusalem, 1975-1981
Левиафан [Leviathan], Journal for poetry and art edited and published by Michail Grobman (b. 1939). Issues 1-3 (no other issues were published). Jerusalem, 1975-1981. Russian (reproduced from handwriting).
The journal contains poems by Genrikh Sapgir, Igor Kholin, Vsevolod Nekrasov, Eduard Limonov, Vladimir Yakovlev, Saveli Grinberg, Michail Grobman and others; passages from Grobman's diaries; manifest of the Leviathan group; an article in memory of the artist Aryeh Baruch; photographs of art works, and more.
All the issues were originally handwritten by Grobman.
Issue no. 1 (1975): 49.5X69.5 cm sheet, folded. Issue no. 2 (1979): 2-17 pp. 34 cm. Issue no. 3 (1981): 18-33 cm. 34 cm. Good condition.
Michail Grobman (b. 1939), Russian-Israeli painter and poet, native of Moscow. Among the founders of the Second Russian Avant-Garde – a title he himself coined – in the Soviet Union in the 1960s. Immigrated to Israel in 1971. Established the Leviathan Group in 1975 in collaboration with Avraham Ofek and Samuel Ackerman. The style of the group represented a blend of contemporary art, Jewish themes, symbolism, and metaphysics. In the manifesto entitled "The Leviathan Declaration, " publicized in 1976, Grobman set forth the group's goals: "Our joint appearance is an incipient attempt to create an inclusive national style that befits the spirit of the building of the New Israel […], our political basis [is] Zionism. Our spiritual basis – Jewish mysticism. Three foundations define our artistic stance: 1. Primitivism 2. Symbol 3. Letter."
In an interview with the children's weekly magazine "Davar Liyeladim" in 1981, Grobman had this to say about his work: “Nothing I do pertains to the realm of psychology, nor to any emotional aspect of life. Nor am I endeavoring to imitate Nature […] One must never attempt to transfer any of these beautiful living things around us onto a piece of paper and turn them into something of a forgery of life. The purpose of the painting is entirely different […] Painting and art must serve to build the conditions for an altogether new world! Just as God, once upon a time, created the world as a work of art which is presently alive with us living in it, so must the artist seek the opportunity to create a totally new condition, which, in the case of a picture, is something we absorb through the eye."