Naftali Bezem

From Holocaust to Rebirth, cast aluminum sculpture by Naftali Bezem, 1970, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, Israel. From left to right the four parts art titled The Destruction, Resistance, Immigration to Israel and Rebirth.

Young Girl with a Flower, oil on canvas painting by Naftali Bezem, 1959, private collection

Naftali Bezem (Hebrew: נפתלי בזם; born 1924) is an Israeli painter, muralist, and sculptor.

Biography

Bezem who was born in Essen, Germany, in 1924. His early adolescence was spent under Nazi oppression, in constant fear for the safety of his parents, who perished in Auschwitz concentration camp. Naftali emigrated to Mandate Palestine in 1939, at the age of fourteen with a Youth Aliyah group.

From 1943 to 1946, he studied art at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem with Israeli painter Mordecai Ardon. He then spent three years studying in Paris.

His most famous public works include a wall relief at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and the ceiling mural in the main reception room at the President's Residence, Jerusalem.

Awards

• In 1957, Bezem was a co-recipient of the Dizengoff Prize for Painting.

Further reading

• Debel Gallery ein Kerem, Naftali Bezem, Jerusalem, Debel Gallery ein Kerem, 1980.
• Gross, Ted W., Ben-Dov and I. Mintzer, The Passover Haggadah Illustrated by Naftali Bezem, Tel Aviv, 1982.
• Kohn, Matthias, Naftali Bezem, Bern, Benteli Verlag, 1998.
• Open Museum, Naftali Bezem - Rope Ladder 1996-1999, Open Museum, 2000.