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Painter and sculptor Yigal Tumarkin passed away at the age of 87

Tumarkin, one of the most important painters and sculptors in Israel, died at the age of 87. He won the Israel Prize for Sculpture in 2004 and sculpted dozens of iconic works, including the Holocaust Memorial and Resurrection in Rabin Square.

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Thursday, 12 August 2021, 15:08

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The sculptor and painter Yigal Tumarkin passed away at the age of 87. Tumarkin is one of the most senior, important and successful painters and sculptors in Israel, and the winner of the Israel Prize for Sculpture in 2004.

Tumarkin was born on October 23, 1933 in Dresden, Germany. , Martin Halberg. In 1935, at the age of two, he immigrated to Israel with his mother, grew up in Tel Aviv and later in Bat Yam where he attended a religious school. Tumarkin told the media that he had a difficult time in the religious environment. In Israel, his mother married Herzl Tumarkin, who became his stepfather. In the Army he served in the Navy as a sabotage instructor in a flotilla. During and after his service he created animal figurines that were sold in stores.

Upon his release in 1954, he studied and worked with the sculptor Rudy Lehmann in Ein Hod. Between 1955 and 1957 he stayed in Europe. In Germany he first met his biological father in Berlin, and was also in a relationship with a local woman and they had a daughter. While in Germany he worked as a set designer in the Berliner Ensemble with Bertolt Brecht who significantly influenced his work. Among other things, he created a setting for a remake of the play "The Good Soul from Sichuan". In 1956, after Brecht's death, he moved to West Germany and later to the Netherlands, where he married his Israeli partner Naomi. In 1956 he built his first iron statue in Israel, two owls sitting on top of each other, for the "Fire" club, inspired by Yitzhak Danziger. Between 1957 and 1958 he sculpted in iron in Germany, the Netherlands and Paris. In the late 1950s Tumarkin began to formulate the assemblage conception of his work, and one of his works from this period was purchased by the Tate Gallery.

In 1960, Tumarkin returned to Israel again, and a year later, his first solo exhibition in Israel opened at the Bezalel Disability Center. Tumarkin stated that he came from Paris "with the gospel of the object and the assemblage, the same poetic garbage that was not known and accepted in the land of the lyrical abstract." In his works from that period he was influenced by pop art and avant-garde protest art. In the same year he went to the Negev and built models that fit into the landscape. In 1962 he traveled to Japan and the United States to learn Japanese painting techniques. A year later he created models of outdoor sculptures for Dimona and Arad and models of desert sculptures. Tumarkin began sculpting with a weapon in 1964. Tumarkin said in an interview: "When I create a sculpture from a broken weapon there is something daunting about it. A year later, he attached parts of the human body to the reliefs. In 1968 he cast figures of men and women from mannequins in shop windows,And following the success of his exhibitions, he won the Sandberg Prize from the Israel Museum that year.

During the 1970s Tumarkin parted ways with the assemblage sculpture style, switching to stainless steel and creating intricate sculptural geometries. One of his well-known works from this period is the "Monument to the Holocaust and Resurrection" which was erected in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv (formerly called Kings of Israel Square). The monument has the structure of an inverted pyramid made of metal, concrete and glass, standing on a base in the shape of a triangle painted in a yellow color reminiscent of a yellow badge, and these two elements make up the shape of a Star of David. During the Yom Kippur War, Tumarkin served as a military reporter and photographer and accompanied the IDF forces. In Holon, he lived in New York from 1974 to 1977. He visited Egypt in 1977, and under the influence of his visit he created the work "Shuvach Yonim" a year later.Which was placed on Palestinian land in response to the Shiloh settlement established at the time. Tumarkim expressed his opposition to the expulsion and demolition of Palestinian villages.

During the 1980s and 1990s, figurative images that corresponded with history and Western culture in the 20th century stood out in Tumarkin's works.

His works include portraits of Franz Kafka, Walter Benjamin, Vincent van Gogh and more.

He dealt with his works, including the history of Europe, the fate of Germany during World War II.

In his sculpture "Macht Arbeit Frei?" From 1992, he used the pyramid element that also appeared earlier in his work "Monument to the Holocaust and Resurrection" in Rabin Square, and for this work won first prize in the Rodin Prize competition for sculpture on behalf of the Hakuna Museum and the Otsukushi Gahra Museum in Japan.

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Tumarkin (Photo: Yoram Studies)

A renewed recognition of his works among the artistic establishment was expressed, among other things, in 1992, when the Tel Aviv Museum opened a retrospective exhibition dedicated to his graphic work alongside another exhibition dedicated to his sculpture. In 1998, while visiting Paris, the artist contracted meningitis. This year he won the Sussman Prize for artists who express their work in the horrors of the Holocaust. However, public voices were heard against the award, following a quote from his statement "When you see these blacks you understand why the Holocaust was." Following the storm, Yad Vashem's management decided to cancel the award to Tumarkin. The management of the Sussman Foundation bypassed the Yad Vashem decision and awarded the award to Tumarkin. Tumarkin's name was linked to another public outcry in 2004, following Tumarkin's winning the Israel Prize for Sculpture. However, old statements by Tumarkin caused public opposition to the award, convened an urgent Knesset hearing that discussed the issue and even held a hearing in the High Court on three petitions filed against the award, but the High Court rejected the petitions.

Among the reasons for the Israel Prize Committee: "Tumarkin is one of the most important and original creators of the modern style in Israeli sculpture. His work has left its mark on Israeli art for the past forty years."

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