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Zvi Malnovitzer
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Zvi Malnovitzer
Zvi Malnovitzer (Hebrew: צבי מלנוביצר; born 1945) is an expressionist painter born to a Haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, religious family in Bnei Brak, Israel. His upbringing in a society isolated from the modern world, where he was dedicated to intensive and uninterrupted Talmudic study from a young age, makes his decision to become an artist unusual, bold, and one of accomplishment. During his training in Reichenau, Austria, where he studied under the auspices of artist Wolfgang Manner and under the direction of Ernst Fuchs (renowned exponent of Fantastic Realism, a 20th-century group of artists in Vienna combining techniques of the Old Masters with religious and esoteric symbolism), Malnvotizer developed a unique style portraying themes that straddle the religious and secular worlds.
While Malnovitzer's work is inspired by the prolific portraits of Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669) and the Romanticism of Francisco de Goya (1746–1828), his style is unique in that it combines European Expressionism with traditional and religious themes. The way he paints is reflective of the way he lives his life - by embracing modern ideas while continuing to preserve his religious traditions. The subjects in his paintings are diverse, ranging from rabbis, to Holocaust survivors, to patrons at coffee shops. The one characteristic that all his works share is that his subjects’ faces, especially their eyes, speak volumes about their life story. The humanity and the universality of his art has made him known throughout the world – in Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Paris, New York City, Los Angeles, London, Amsterdam, Sydney, Berlin, and many other cities where his paintings have appeared in auctions, at galleries, and in exhibitions.
Malnovitzer was born in 1945 as the only son of a Gur Hasidic family. His father was Polish and his mother German. For his early schooling, his parents sent him to cheder (Hebrew: חדר, meaning "room"), a traditional elementary school that taught the basics of Judaism and the Hebrew language. During his religious studies, Malnovitzer began to paint, using old bed sheets and scraps of wood to create his first oil on canvas work. Young Zvi's talents were soon recognized by his neighbor in Bnei Brak and accomplished Israeli artist, Yehuda Wallersteiner, who agreed to be his teacher at age 13. Wallensteiner taught the young artist the fundamentals of painting in the heart of the Haredi city of Bnei Brak, a society that observes Jewish law so strictly that art is rare. "I would return to Wallensteiner until I felt that I made paintings that were up to his caliber", Malnvoitzer said. Other artists began to notice the boy's talent. For instance, the sculptor Ellul Kussov gave him a recommendation, expressing enthusiasm for his gift for painting.
The tragic history of his family and of the Jewish people cast a shadow over his entire life and career. Since his childhood, it was his noble mission to struggle with memories of the Holocaust and of exile through painting. At age 12, Malnotivzer sketched a black ink drawing of figures emerging from a cave, with Nazi soldiers perched on a balcony above. He wrote the word "Galut", meaning "exile", at the edge of the drawing. He was thinking of his family who perished in the Holocaust and the injustice that his grandfather endured by the Nazis, including an attempt to set fire to his beard. For young Zvi, born the year that World War II ended, exile became both a traumatic memory and an artistic inspiration.
His commitment to energizing the Jewish cultural scene through painting was matched only by his pride to serve the recently established State of Israel. In 1963, Malnovizter was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). After his service, he was on reserve duty in the Burial Division.
In 1966, Malnovitzer married his wife Bilha and began working in a carpentry workshop in south Tel Aviv. In this capacity, he befriended the locals of the neighborhood—including vendors, beggars, and drug addicts—who became the subjects of his work.
In 1977, Malnovizer studied briefly at the Avni Institute in Tel Aviv. He continued his training in Europe, where he was introduced to the works of Rembrandt van Rijn at the Rijksmuseum (Dutch pronunciation: [rɛi̯ks myˈzeʏm]) (English: State Museum), a Dutch national museum in Amsterdam, Francisco de Goya at the Museo del Prado, the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid.
The mainstay of his European training took place in Reichenau, near Vienna, where he attended seminars with the artist Ernst Fuchs, one of the founders and the most prominent member of the Vienna School of "Fantastic Realism." Malnvoitzer studied the art of the Flemish and Venetian masters under Fuchs. The renowned Viennese painter later wrote the following testament of his student's talent before the opening of Malnovitzer's first major exhibition:
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Zvi Malnovitzer
Zvi Malnovitzer (Hebrew: צבי מלנוביצר; born 1945) is an expressionist painter born to a Haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, religious family in Bnei Brak, Israel. His upbringing in a society isolated from the modern world, where he was dedicated to intensive and uninterrupted Talmudic study from a young age, makes his decision to become an artist unusual, bold, and one of accomplishment. During his training in Reichenau, Austria, where he studied under the auspices of artist Wolfgang Manner and under the direction of Ernst Fuchs (renowned exponent of Fantastic Realism, a 20th-century group of artists in Vienna combining techniques of the Old Masters with religious and esoteric symbolism), Malnvotizer developed a unique style portraying themes that straddle the religious and secular worlds.
While Malnovitzer's work is inspired by the prolific portraits of Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669) and the Romanticism of Francisco de Goya (1746–1828), his style is unique in that it combines European Expressionism with traditional and religious themes. The way he paints is reflective of the way he lives his life - by embracing modern ideas while continuing to preserve his religious traditions. The subjects in his paintings are diverse, ranging from rabbis, to Holocaust survivors, to patrons at coffee shops. The one characteristic that all his works share is that his subjects’ faces, especially their eyes, speak volumes about their life story. The humanity and the universality of his art has made him known throughout the world – in Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Paris, New York City, Los Angeles, London, Amsterdam, Sydney, Berlin, and many other cities where his paintings have appeared in auctions, at galleries, and in exhibitions.
Malnovitzer was born in 1945 as the only son of a Gur Hasidic family. His father was Polish and his mother German. For his early schooling, his parents sent him to cheder (Hebrew: חדר, meaning "room"), a traditional elementary school that taught the basics of Judaism and the Hebrew language. During his religious studies, Malnovitzer began to paint, using old bed sheets and scraps of wood to create his first oil on canvas work. Young Zvi's talents were soon recognized by his neighbor in Bnei Brak and accomplished Israeli artist, Yehuda Wallersteiner, who agreed to be his teacher at age 13. Wallensteiner taught the young artist the fundamentals of painting in the heart of the Haredi city of Bnei Brak, a society that observes Jewish law so strictly that art is rare. "I would return to Wallensteiner until I felt that I made paintings that were up to his caliber", Malnvoitzer said. Other artists began to notice the boy's talent. For instance, the sculptor Ellul Kussov gave him a recommendation, expressing enthusiasm for his gift for painting.
The tragic history of his family and of the Jewish people cast a shadow over his entire life and career. Since his childhood, it was his noble mission to struggle with memories of the Holocaust and of exile through painting. At age 12, Malnotivzer sketched a black ink drawing of figures emerging from a cave, with Nazi soldiers perched on a balcony above. He wrote the word "Galut", meaning "exile", at the edge of the drawing. He was thinking of his family who perished in the Holocaust and the injustice that his grandfather endured by the Nazis, including an attempt to set fire to his beard. For young Zvi, born the year that World War II ended, exile became both a traumatic memory and an artistic inspiration.
His commitment to energizing the Jewish cultural scene through painting was matched only by his pride to serve the recently established State of Israel. In 1963, Malnovizter was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). After his service, he was on reserve duty in the Burial Division.
In 1966, Malnovitzer married his wife Bilha and began working in a carpentry workshop in south Tel Aviv. In this capacity, he befriended the locals of the neighborhood—including vendors, beggars, and drug addicts—who became the subjects of his work.
In 1977, Malnovizer studied briefly at the Avni Institute in Tel Aviv. He continued his training in Europe, where he was introduced to the works of Rembrandt van Rijn at the Rijksmuseum (Dutch pronunciation: [rɛi̯ks myˈzeʏm]) (English: State Museum), a Dutch national museum in Amsterdam, Francisco de Goya at the Museo del Prado, the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid.
The mainstay of his European training took place in Reichenau, near Vienna, where he attended seminars with the artist Ernst Fuchs, one of the founders and the most prominent member of the Vienna School of "Fantastic Realism." Malnvoitzer studied the art of the Flemish and Venetian masters under Fuchs. The renowned Viennese painter later wrote the following testament of his student's talent before the opening of Malnovitzer's first major exhibition: