Genre: Avant-Garde Subject: Figures Medium: Oil Surface: Canvas Country: Israel Dimensions: 13.25" x 16.25" Dimensions w/Frame: 21.5" x 24.5" Avraham Ofek (August 14, 1935 – January 13, 1990) was an Israeli sculptor, muralist, painter and printmaker. Avraham Ofek was born in Burgas, Bulgaria. He immigrated to Israel in 1949, and he lived in Ein Hamifratz, a kibbutz near Haifa. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, as well as in Spain and in London, and later taught art in Jerusalem before being appointed head of the Art Department at the University of Haifa. He was one of the founders of the Leviathan group. He represented Israel at the Venice Biennale in 1972. Avraham Ofek's early paintings of landscape were at both lyrical and rugged; later in his career the landscape was undefined and receded into the background. Near the end of his life, the landscape of Jerusalem became an important motif, reflecting loss and despair. Many of Ofek's landscapes convey a sense of alienation and solitude, as well as nostalgia for the city of his birth, Sofia. His murals can be seen across Israel, notably at Kfar Uria and the Central Post Office Building (Jerusalem). His sculpture "The Binding of Isaac" is on view at the entrance to Safra Square. In 1989 the Jerusalem Print Workshop issued a collection of reproductions of his prints edited by Uri Katz, with commentary in Hebrew and English. 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 1965-1975 Bezalel Academy, Jerusalem 1975 Head of the Art Department, Television, Jerusalem 1978-1981 Art Department, Haifa University 1984-1990 Professor, Art Department, Haifa University Prizes 1959 - America-Israel Cultural Foundation 1969 - Jerusalem Prize for painting and Sculpture 1990 - Ish-Shalom Prize for Life's Work in Art. Outdoor and Public Art 1970 Mural, Beit Haam, Kfar Uria 1972 Mural, Central Post Office, Jerusalem 1973 Mural, Agron School, Jerusalem 1974 "Mountains round about Jerusalem", Mural, Stone School, Jerusalem 1976 "Return to Zion" Mural, Tel Aviv University Library, Tel Aviv 1982 Hailek Ben Shachar, stone sculpture, Gan Harakevet, Arlozorof Street, Tel Aviv-Yaffo 1986 Binding of Isaac, Safra Square, Jerusalem 1986 Homage to Asher, 1966 stone sculpture, Tefen Open University, Tefen 1986-1987 Israel, a shattered dream, Mural, Haifa University, Haifa 1987 Stone sculpture, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel 2000 "סלע קיומנו" or Binding of Isaac (1986), stone sculpture, Gan Daniel,Safra Square, Jerusalem (originally exhibited in Herzelia) Selected Exhibitions Table for Two. Avraham Ofek and Micha Ullman, The Ticho House, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 2000 Landscape of Longing: Avraham Ofek's Early and Late Works, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 2007 Family Traces, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 2009