Photographed by Stanley Batkin

View artwork »

View exhibitions »

Visit our Information Center to browse the artist file »

File includes:

276 Articles
233 Artwork reproductions
76 Exhibition invitations

Avraham Ofek (August 14, 1935 – January 13, 1990) was a Bulgarian-born Israeli painter and sculptor. Ofek's work portrayed social, national, and Jewish themes, as well as landscapes of Israel and especially of Jerusalem. For his work, Ofek won the Jerusalem Prize for painting in 1969.
Ofek arrived in Israel in 1949 and settled on Kibbutz Ein Hamifratz, where he studied painting under the tutelage of the painter Aryeh Rothman. His early work included images of animals, farm machinery, kibbutz scenes, scenes from the Wadi Ara region and from Jaffa, and images of laborers. In 1958 he went to Italy to continue his studies and to participate in the mural on a wall of the Accademia di Belle Arti ("Academy of Fine Arts") in Florence. Under the spell of the art of mural painting, which Ofek considered the primary medium of his work, he painted several of his best-known works, such as the mural on the wall of Beit Haam in Kfar Uria (1970), the mural in the Central Post Office in Jerusalem (1972) and the mural "Israel, a Shattered Dream", at Haifa University (1986-1987).
In 1962 Ofek and his wife Telma moved to Jerusalem. During the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s he was an active member of the "Levitan group" with the artists Shmuel Ackerman and Mikhail Grobman. The group, which was founded in 1976, combined symbolism, metaphysics, Judaism and conceptual and environmental art. Within the framework of this group Ofek created performances and symbolic activities into which Jewish traditional symbolism was integrated. From the 1980s onward, Ofek returned to more traditional painting, which continued to feature Jewish themes, Israeli landscapes, and views of his city, Jerusalem.

Education

Painting under Arie Rothman
1958-1960 Academy of Fine Arts, Florence
1961 Study Tour to Seville and Madrid, Spain, and London
1969 Study Tour to Europe and U.S.A.

Teaching

1962-1975 Bezalel Academy, Jerusalem
1975 Head of the Art Department, Television, Jerusalem
1978-1981 Art Department, Haifa University
1984-1990 Professor, Art Department, Haifa University

Awards and Prizes

1984 ''Outstanding Young Artist of America'' Award
Claremont Graduate School, Fellowship Award. Exhibition: 1983 Participated in Photography Biennale, Luzon.

Environmental Sculptures

1970 Mural, Beit Haam, Kfar Uria