ZARITSKY, YOSSEF

ZARITSKY, YOSSEF (1891–1985), Israeli painter. He was born in Borispol, near Kiev, and studied until 1914 at the Academy of Art in Kiev. He then lived in Moscow. In 1923, he went to Palestine, settling in Jerusalem, where he was one of the initiators of the first exhibition of Palestinian artists. In 1927, Zaritsky moved to Tel Aviv, where in 1947–48 he was one of the founders of the "New Horizons" group. Zaritsky was the first Israel artist to hold a one-man show in an important art center, the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, in 1955 – the year he was awarded the Israel Prize. His temperament and his feeling for color led him to concentrate on landscapes. Between 1923 and 1945 he painted mostly in watercolor. Zaritsky's work underwent "periods," each of which has its special characteristic. There are the watercolors of Haifa, Jerusalem, and Safed (1923–26), which contain carefully blended color harmonies as well as sketches in which patches of violent color are applied to the drawing; the "Views over Ramat Gan" (1936–38) show great feeling for composition. His series of "Zikhron Ya'akov" (1939–40) and still lifes (1945) are stages in an evolution toward abstraction. Lastly, his large oils in the "Yehiam" and "Amsterdam" series (1954–55) synthesize all the elements of the evolution, in both brushwork and balance of color. Zaritsky's indirect influence through his pupils Avigdor Stematsky and Yehezkel Streichman contributed to the birth of an abstractlyricist movement after 1948. This dominated young Israel painters for many years.

[Yona Fischer]