Lea Nikel
Lea Nikel (1918-2005) (Hebrew: לאה ניקל) was an Israeli abstract artist.[1] She won the 1995 Israel Prize for painting.
Biography
Lea Nikel (Lea Nikelsberg) was born in Zhitomir, Ukraine in 1918. Her family immigrated to Palestine in 1920. She began studying with painter Chaim Gliksberg in Tel Aviv in 1935, later studying with Yechezkel Streichman and Avigdor Steimatsky. From 1961 to 1977, Nikel lived in Greenwich Village (one year), Rome (three years) and New York (four years), before returning to Israel in 1977. She was married to Sam Leiman and had one daughter, Ziva Hanan. She lived in Moshav Kidron.[2]
Artistic career
Nikel held her first solo exhibition at Chemerinsky Art Gallery in Tel Aviv and her first solo show in Paris at Galerie Colette Allendy in 1957. She took part in numerous international group exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale in 1964. The Tel Aviv Museum of Art organized a retrospective exhibition of her paintings in 2005. Nikel continued to paint until just a few days before her death in September 2005.[2]
Artistic style
Nikel's style was a form of expressionistic abstraction sometimes called lyrical abstraction. She painted with a brusque, generous touch and favored high-keyed colors. She was known for buoyant compositions consisting of rough-edged blocks of color and scribbly, calligraphic lines that together conveyed a sense of imaginative excitement and urgent sensuousness.[2]
Awards
In 1995, Nikel was awarded the Israel Prize for painting[3] In 1997, she was made a Chevalier of Arts and Letters by the French minister of culture.
See also
References
- ^ Gilerman, Dana. "The birth of a new generation", haaretz.com. Retrieved 25 November 2008.
- ^ a b c Lea Nikel, Abstract Painter and One of Israel's Top Artists, Dies at 86, New York Times
- ^ "Israel Prize Official Site - Recipients in 1995 (in Hebrew)".