Hanna Ben Dov
Encyclopedia
Hanna Ben Dov is an Israeli abstract painter born in Jerusalem in 1919, died in Paris in 2008
, was a famous Israeli photographer who founded the photography department in the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design
in 1910. Hannah herself attended Bezalel during the 1940s, and later continued to Camberwell College of Arts
in London. After the completion of her formal education she moved to Paris, where she exhibited for the first time in 1948 and has been living and working there since, as a part of the local abstract artists school. She took part in the first French Biennale of 1951, that was held in Menton
.
collection and the Rockefeller Museum
collection in New York.
French Biennale. Menton, France. 1951
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Life & Work
Born in Jerusalem. Father, Ya'ackov Ben-DovYa'ackov Ben-Dov
Ya'ackov Ben-Dov photographer and a pioneer of Jewish Cinematography in Palestine.- Biography :Ben Dov was born in what is now the Ukraine and attended the Academy of the Arts in Kiev.He came to Israel with the Second Aliyah....
, was a famous Israeli photographer who founded the photography department in the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design
Bezalel Academy of Art and Design
Bezalel Academy of Art and Design is Israel's national school of art, founded in 1906 by Boris Schatz. It is named for the Biblical figure Bezalel, son of Uri , who was appointed by Moses to oversee the design and construction of the Tabernacle ....
in 1910. Hannah herself attended Bezalel during the 1940s, and later continued to Camberwell College of Arts
Camberwell College of Arts
Camberwell College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, and is widely regarded as one of the world's foremost art and design institutions. It is located in Camberwell, South London, England, with two sites situated at Peckham Road and Wilson Road...
in London. After the completion of her formal education she moved to Paris, where she exhibited for the first time in 1948 and has been living and working there since, as a part of the local abstract artists school. She took part in the first French Biennale of 1951, that was held in Menton
Menton
Menton is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.Situated on the French Riviera, along the Franco-Italian border, it is nicknamed la perle de la France ....
.
Collections
Her paintings can be found in several collections, including the French State Collection, the Tel Aviv Museum of ArtTel Aviv Museum of Art
The Tel Aviv Museum of Art is an art museum in Tel Aviv, Israel. It was established in 1932 in a building that was the home of Tel Aviv's first mayor, Meir Dizengoff. The Helena Rubinstein Pavilion for Contemporary Art opened in 1959. The museum moved to its current location on King Saul Avenue in...
collection and the Rockefeller Museum
Rockefeller Museum
The Rockefeller Museum, formerly the Palestine Archaeological Museum, is an archaeological museum located in East Jerusalem that houses a large collection of artifacts unearthed in the excavations conducted in Ottoman Palestine beginning in the late 19th century.The museum is under the management...
collection in New York.
Exhibitions
French Biennale. Menton, France. 1951
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"In the wide jungle of painting’s salons in Paris, I found, from time to time, a sort of a relaxation spot, a spot that made me want to come closer and look at it, and I always realized, in the same pleasant way you meet a true friend, that these are Hannah Ben Dov’s paintings. This is the way I came to know this painter. In the atmosphere that surrounds the front line of today’s painting bursa, which loud and fast new orientations are in the top of all, as is they are objects of entertainment, and they do not leave the time to absorb, it is very nice to run into artists such as Hannah Ben Dov who lives by her own standard. Near the painting stand, in a work that knows no compromises, these sorts of artists are like a praying religious man. They practice the values of painting that have no substitutes and no profit. The constant development of Ben Dov, which I have been observing for sometime now, never depended on signs from the outside world, but instead, stood in a front line with it, same line that reveals by the power of a jealous work between the artist and himself-- the line of sincerity. It is not difficult to characterize Ben Dov’s work, since she succeeded in understanding the tradition of the French painting. She talks of structure, colors and forms in her paintings. It is typical to a true work of art, which it can not be explain by dismantling, the unity of the work is an unexplained secret, and it is much more valuable then each piece on its own. The creation of Hannah Ben Dov have matured and reached to a place that doesn’t require any expertise terms. Ever since I came to know her work, I appreciated it as a cultural painting. Now days I look at it as painting that already achieved its spiritual goal, and the viewer only have to watch the painting and enjoy its beauty."
J. J. Varen. Paris, 1969.
"LYRICAL ABSTRACTIONS By Hanna
Ben Dov, a veteran Israeli painter who
studied with Mordechai Ardon at the
Bezalel School and who currently lives in
Paris, contain all the right elements to
make them work. Her paintings are
formalist in every sense of the word,
composed around the ceremonial postwar
nonobjective painting in which
expression via action and lyrical, alla
prima application of paint command total
respect.
[…]" The Jerusalem Post, December 17, 1993