Bernstein, Moshe
BERNSTEIN, MOSHE
BERNSTEIN, MOSHE (1920– ), Israeli painter and draughtsman. Bernstein was born in Bereza Kartuskaya, Poland. He completed his studies at the Vilna Art School in 1939 and, immigrating to Israel in 1948, he took part in the exhibition of "Immigrant Art" held in Tel Aviv that year. In his paintings and pen drawings, Bernstein displayed his deep attachment to the Jewish world and which constituted an inseparable part of his life. He expressed the emotional experiences of his childhood, depicting the bet ha-midrash and the Jewish street. Like Chagall, he used in his pen drawings cubist form and compositional language. However, instead of using colors, he made skillful use of black pen and created effects of light and shadow and the impression of a colorful picture which is composed of juxtaposing layers, thus producing the illusion of depth.
Since his first one-man show in Tel Aviv in 1950, Bernstein had many exhibitions and participated in various group exhibitions, such as the 1974 Cyprus exhibition with Zeev *Ben-Zvi. He won the City Medal of Tel Aviv in 1980.
bibliography:
M. Tal, in: Israel Magazine (Oct. 1972), 62–66.
[Judith Spitzer]