Mordechai Levanon (1901-1968) – Old Safed – Oil on Canvas

Mordechai Levanon (1901-1968) – Old Safed – Oil on Canvas
Mordechai Levanon (1901-1968), Old Safed, 1962.
Oil on canvas. Signed and dated. Titled on verso.
72X59 cm, in a 97X83 cm frame. Good condition. Minor blemishes.
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Mordechai Levanon (1901-1968), born in Transylvania (today, Romania), immigrated to Palestine in 1921. During the years 1925-1927, he studied painting in the studio of Yitzchak Frenkel (Frenel) in Tel-Aviv and in 1929-1930 was a member of the "Massad" group of young artists together with Avigdor Stematsky, Aharon Avni, Joseph Kossonogi and others. In 1938, he moved from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem and in the early 1960s opened a studio in Safed.
Levanon often painted the landscapes of Palestine, and especially the landscapes of Safed and Jerusalem, between which he divided his time. His style was rooted in expressionism and many of the landscapes he painted, often without leaving his studio, have a dreamy or mystical quality. Art and theater critic Haim Gamzu defined Levanon as "one of our most important expressionist artists, one of the most genuine artists of vision. He was all truth and his work is truth. Personal, original truth…" (Dr. Haim Gamzu: Art Critiques. The Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2006. p. 260).
Levanon was twice awarded the Dizengoff Prize for Painting (in 1940 and in 1961).