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Michael Gross, an Israeli painter and sculptor, was born in Tiberias in 1920 and grew up in the nearby area of Moshava Migdal. In 1934, at which time he was living in Jerusalem, Gross's father was murdered and his family home was destroyed. This event influenced Gross's choice to study art.
Gross's early works included primarily figurative painting and sculpture using a model. These works were influenced by artists such as Zeev Ben Zvi and Moshe Ziffer, with whom he studied during this period. Beginning in the 1950s, when he returned to Israel following his studies in sculpture at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Gross developed a style whose main element is the simplification of nature using several layers of color.
During the 1960s and 1970s, under the influence of American art, Gross showed an increasing tendency toward abstraction in his works. In spite of their "minimalist" look, his works continued to deal with themes like the images of man or descriptions of landscapes with biographical significance. In the 1980s he began to add figurative elements to his paintings. In this period he created a synthesis between the abstract and the figurative. Died on November 4, 2004.

Education

1936-40 Teachers Seminary, Jerusalem
1942
1943-45 Architecture, Technion, Haifa and sculpture with Moshe Zifer
1951-54 Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris and sculpture with Marcel Gimond

Teaching

1954-56 High School, Haifa
1957-60 Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem
1960-80 Art Institute of the Kibbutzim Seminar "Oranim", Tivon

Awards and Prizes

1953 Deauxville Prize, France
1964 Herman Struck Prize, Haifa Municipality
1967 The Dizengoff Prize for Painting and Sculpture, Municipality of Tel Aviv Jaffa, Tel Aviv
1971 Gold Medal Sao Paolo Biennale, Brazil
1977 Sandberg Prize for Israeli Art, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
1987 Minister of Education and Culture Prize for Painters and Sculptors, Israel
1995 Gamzu Prize, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv
2000 Israel Prize for Painting and Sculpture

Environmental Sculptures

1974 Kiryat Hayovel, Simon Bolivar Park, Jerusalem
1996 Trio, Tel-Aviv Museum of Art's Square