Menashe Kadishman was born in 1932. His both parents were artists. Also, his mother Bilha Kadishman worked as a teacher. Ben Zion Kadishman was a sculptor and industrial worker from Ukraine, who emigrated to Tel Aviv in the early 20s. At 15, Menashe lost his father, he had to leave the school in order to help his mother.
Early Life
During the early 1960s, Kadishman enrolled at St Martin’s School of Art in London, a center for the New Generation of British sculptors led by Anthony Caro. He then moved to the Slade School of Art, where he studied with Reg Butler. By replacing bronze and stone with aluminium, glass and steel, Kadishman’s early sculpture, made in the 1950s, showed that British sculpture had evolved from figurative and mythical forms to abstract, industrial-influenced works in the 1960s.
Life in Britain
Sculptor Kadishman faced many difficulties during his time in Britain, as he related in the 2011 book on his sculptures by Marc Scheps. Being Israeli without a British passport made him feel like an outsider among other artists and forced to withdraw from official exhibitions. However, it had a liberating effect as well. As he said, these difficulties helped him realize that his work came directly from him, without passports, permissions, or accepted notions. Obviously, it happened regardless of whether he followed or not a certain trend, or whether he was influenced or not influenced by a certain artist.
In 1965, he married Tamara Alferoff, a British psychotherapist, they had two children, Ben and Maya. The couple separated in 1972 and the artist returned to Israel. In the following years, his career flourished in both Israel and internationally.
Kadishman Artwork
Although Kadishman produced a wide range of art, he remains best remembered as the sculptor and painter who created a great variety of sheep images in different artistic styles like Minimalism, Conceptual Art, and Neo-Expressionism. This was due to his experience as a shepherd in a kibbutz in his youth. Menashe Kadishman died at 82 after producing a wide range of works. He blended art and non-art, often challenged and surprised audiences.
You can find a large selection of his artworks in Kings Gallery.
Kings Gallery is a leading fine art gallery established in Jerusalem in 1995. We strive to collect and sell the highest quality historic and contemporary Israeli and International art. Especially, the gallery specializes in artists from the early period of the 1920’s. In addition, Kings Gallery features leading up-and-coming young artists who will definitely be prominent names in the next few years.
