If there is one artist whose soul was inextricably tied to the wild, sun-drenched stones of Jerusalem, it was Anna Ticho. While she is legendary for her meticulous, charcoal-etched landscapes of the Judean Hills, there is a particular magic in her later works—specifically her botanical studies—that feels like a deep, collective exhale.
The Flower Vase
Today, we’re looking at a beautiful piece: The Flower Vase, an ink and watercolor on paper measuring 42.5 × 35 cm.
In this piece, Ticho moves away from the precision of her early years. Here she allows the ink to dance. The marriage of ink and watercolor is where the piece finds its pulse. The ink provides a skeletal structure—quick, gestural strokes that suggest the weight of the vase and the reach of the stems—while the watercolor brings the “flesh.”
Colors
Typical of her later period (post-1960), the colors aren’t just contained within lines; they bleed, bloom, and blur. It’s a visual metaphor for the vitality she found in nature during her later years at Ticho House.
What makes a 42.5 × 35 cm paper feel like an entire garden? It’s the tension between control and surrender.
At this size, the work is intimate. It invites to lean in and see the individual bristles of the brush. Ticho was famously “paralyzed” by the harsh Middle Eastern sun when she first arrived in 1912. By the time she painted her flower series, she had mastered it. The white of the paper acts as the light itself, shining through the translucent layers of watercolo
Following the loss of her husband, Dr. Albert Ticho, her work shifted from the “rigidity” of landscapes to the “fluidity” of flora. She rarely filled the paper to the very brim, leaving a “breathing room” of white space that makes the flowers feel as though they are floating in the crisp Jerusalem air.
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. 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.