People

Leon (Arie) Fein (1906-1993), native of Białystok, Poland. Arrived in Palestine in 1926. Studied art at the Bezalel School, and later at Paris`s National School of Fine Arts (Beaux-Arts de Paris). Was twice awarded the Dizengoff Prize for Painting and Sculpture (1937 and 1944).

The present portrait was on display at the exhibition entitled "Bat-Miriam, Portrait and Self-Portrait" (see below) at the Genia Schreiber (Tel Aviv) University Art Gallery in 1998. In the exhibition catalogue (see below), the curator Uzi Agassi had this to say about the work: "This painting is of a different character from his [Fein`s] other paintings from the same period, and as such, it is of special interest. By 1947, the year he painted the portrait of Bat-Miriam, he had already overcome his `naturalism complex, ` and after [absorbing] the influences of Fauvism, he went on to "Synthetic Constructivism", according to his own definition […]. The object of the painting – the figure of Bat-Miriam – was apparently the cause of his return to the naturalist style. Fein resorts to warm, dark colors in depicting her portrait; returning us, in a manner, to the words of the poet Rahel: `It appears that just now / by the grace of bygone times… has she risen from the Bible.`"

Reference (catalogue and exhibition): Uzi Agassi (curator), "Bat-Miriam, Portrait and Self-Portrait, " exhibition and exhibition catalogue, Genia Schreiber University Art Gallery, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 1998, Hebrew.