Menashe Kadishman is an famous Israeli sculptor and painter.
In 2005, he was voted the 176th-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.
Background
Kadishman was born in 1932 in Tel Aviv, the son of Russian pioneers. When he was 15 his father died and later he had to give up his education, leave school, and help his mother.
During his army service Kadishman served as a shepherd at kibbutz Ma'yan Barukh. This experience made an indelible impression on him that was later expressed in his art.
From 1947 to 1950, Kadishman studied with the Israeli sculptor Moshe Sternschuss at the Avni Institute of Art and Design in Tel Aviv, and in 1954 with the Israeli sculptor Rudi Lehmann in Jerusalem.
In 1959, he moved to London, where he attended the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and the Slade School of Art.
He remained there until 1972 and had his first one-man show in 1965 at the Grosvenor Gallery.
Kadishman is a laureate of many international awards.
Education
Kadishman studied with the Israeli sculptor Moshe Sternschuss at the Avni Institute of Art and Design in Tel Aviv, and in 1954 with the Israeli sculptor Rudi Lehmann in Jerusalem.
After he moved to London where attended St. Martin's School of Art and Slade School.
During 1959 and 1960 he also studied with Anthony Caro and Reg Butler.
Career
In 1959 Kadishman followed Itzhak Danziger's advice and went to London to study sculpture in the St. Martin School of Art. During the 13 years that he spent in London he refined his Minimalist Conceptual style.
Most of his sculptures from that period were made from steel or aluminum and some of them included glass.The common theme in these sculptures was tension. The forms assembled in the sculptures created a strange posture that was contrary to the laws of nature. Kadishman installed some of these sculptures in Israel on his return to his homeland (Rising, 1974, Habimah Square, Tel Aviv).
In 1978 Kadishman represented Israel in the Venice Biennial. He created an unforgettable performance in a sheep pen.
The sheep motif returned in Kadishman's art in different kinds of media. Over time it became a ram and in 1983 the whole scene expanded to become the Sacrifice of Isaac. The inspiration for this subject was his son's military service in Lebanon. In the paintings and the sculptures that deal with the biblical scene Abraham appears as a secondary figure while the ram's image increases in significance.
Toward the end of the 1990s the single motif of a screaming head was left in the sculptures. In a very impressive installation Kadishman placed hundreds of heads on the floor under the title Shalekhet – Fallen Leaves (1997–99, Julie M. Gallery, Tel Aviv). The reference to the famous painting of Edward Munch as well as the Holocaust symbolism was unmistakable.
During his almost 50-year career he has about 100 one man exhibitions around the world.