Ivan Schwebel was an American-born Israeli artist who blended modern and ancient Jewish imagery and American cultural icons in his art. He was born in West Virginia in 1932. He joined the US army during the Korean War, and when the war ended, was sent to Japan by the army with the amorphous title of “information officer.” It was there that he began painting, taught by a Zen master-painter in Kyoto, Kimura Kyoen. The Japanese influence can be seen in his landscape paintings and in his dramatic compositions. Ivan Schwebel then traveled in Europe before moving to Israel in 1963.
Schwebel was renowned for fusing images from different time periods in his paintings. He famously depicted biblical figures, such as King David and Job, in urban Israeli environments, such as Zion Square and modern Jerusalem. His works about the Holocaust combine different vignettes of Jewish history – the Spanish Expulsion, the ghettos and the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem skylines. Colorful and expressive, his pieces have been interpreted as commentaries on Israeli society and politics, and they have been exhibited in the Israel Museum and in museums and galleries throughout Israel and the US.
He had major shows over the years – at the Israel Museum, Tefen, and at the Ramat Gan Museum; his work had been exhibited at the Tel Aviv Museum and is represented in their collection.
Ivan Schwebel died on July 13th, 2011 in Israel.
