Menashe Kadishman (
Hebrew: מנשה קדישמן; August 21, 1932 – May 8, 2015) was an Israeli
sculptor and
painter.
Biography
Menashe Kadishman was born in
Mandate Palestine to two Zionists, Bilha and Ben-Zion Kadishman.[1] His father died when he was 15 years old. He left school to help his mother and provide for the family.[2]
In 1950, Kadishman joined the Nahal infantry brigade[1] and he worked as a
shepherd on
KibbutzMa'ayan Baruch for the next three years. This experience with nature, sheep and shepherding had a significant impact on his later artistic work and career.
On May 8, 2015 Kadishman died at Sheba Medical Center in
Tel Hashomer.[4]
Art career
In the 1960s, Kadishman's sculptures were
Minimalist in style, and so designed as to appear to defy gravity. This was achieved either through careful balance and construction, as in Suspense (1966), or by using glass and metal so that the metal appeared unsupported, as in Segments (1968). The glass allowed the environment to be part of the work.
The first major appearance of sheep in his work was at the 1978
Venice Biennale, where Kadishman presented a flock of colored live sheep as living art.[5] In 1995, he began painting
portraits of sheep by the hundreds, and even thousands, each one different from the next. These instantly-recognizable sheep portraits soon became his artistic "trademark".
Awards and recognition
1960 the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship.[3]
'Negative Trees', 1974, Wedau Sports Park, Duisburg
Israel
1957 "The Dog", Artist Private Collection | 2015 China, Sculptor
Maty Grunberg, recreating Kadishman "The Dog 1957" in granite stone, under M. Kadishman's instruction
1960 Tension, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
1964 Uprise, a heavy steel sculpture near the Theatre and Performing Arts Center stage. Tel Aviv
1966 In Suspense, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
1967 In Suspense, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot