David Sharir was born in Tel-Aviv in in 1938 to Russian immigrants. After studies in Tel-Aviv at the Avni Institute, the artist imaginative theater set designer furthered his education in Italy at the Academia delle Belle Arte in Florence and at the university of Rome.
Jonah Before Nineveh
The blend of education influenced artistic style, which is full of ornamentations. Decorative and primitive art features remind of Byzantine mosaics from Ravenna, Sienese trecento frescoes and, also, Russian folk transmitted, probably, by his parents. Interestingly, the composition of “Jonah Before Nineveh” resembles Persian miniatures.
G-d ordered Jonah the prophet to warn the citizens of Nineveh to repent of their wrongs, but Jonah refuses to believe that these hated people deserve salvation. Instead of it, the prophet boarded a ship and set off a long voyage to Tarshish. A storm arose and the prophet, who understood the reason of the gale, asked the crew to throw him into the sea. By the G-d’s command, a whale swallowed Jonah. After Jonah had repented, G-d let him out and sent with the sermon to Nineveh. The residents believed and fastened. Then the famous story with the plant happened. It gave the shade to Jonah, and he felt sorry for its death, so G-d explained the fate of the city.
In addition,
There is a drawing of this scene by Rembrandt from 1655.
Significant part of artworks by Sharir relate to Tanachic stories. Especially, the artist works with conventional meanings adding personal perception and exegesis. Book “David’s Psalms” (Gefen Publishing House, Tel Aviv, 2013) describes the collection of his paintings based on Psalms.
Kings Gallery is a leading fine art gallery established in Jerusalem in 1995. With over 20 years of experience, we strive to collect and sell the highest quality historic and contemporary Israeli and International art. The gallery specializes on artists from the early period of the 1920’s. We have a large variety of original works and lithographs by leading Jewish, Israeli, and international artists. In addition, Kings Gallery features leading up-and-coming young artists who will definitely be prominent names in the next few years.
