New Horizons and Yossef Zaritsky: The Israeli version of Lyrical Abstract
A major turning point in Israeli art came about with the formation of the artistic group New Horizons. Interestingly, it happened in 1948, the same year Israel declared its independence. The circumstance of the group’s formation is full of intrigue and drama, but I’ll keep that story for later because it’s more important first to acknowledge and appreciate the essence of the group’s creative force and influence on Israeli art that came ever after.
New Horizons offered a direction, a promise, a door to a new world. Although there was no stylistic or ideological common denominator for all its members’ works, there was a shared desire to avoid an explicit representation of reality. The group was formed when Israeli art’s narrative moved from expressions of the collective Zionist ethos to a person’s individual experience. It reflected the struggle between the “social art” camp and its rivals who advocated “art for art” and the “local” versus the “universalists.”
New Horizons’ principle style is known as Lyrical Abstract. It was an Israeli localized version of the abstract painting style that has long been developed in Europe and the United States. In its Israeli context, Lyrical Abstraction is characterized by exploiting the figurative subject as a starting point and a source of influence. Painters freely dismantled that subject for abstraction purposes, yet it always seems to look as if the figurative subject is at the bottom edge of the painting.
A few art historians think that the style mimics the “Israeli state of mind” of the newly created state. The following concepts can describe it: forget, silence the past, erase, blur, and move on towards the creation of a new Israeli, a modern Jew – the Sabra (the Hebrew name of the Prickly Pear Cactus fruit).
The most prominent artist associated with the Lyrical Abstract style is Yossef Zaritsky. Not only was he incredibly talented, but he also possessed a charismatic and strong personality that naturally made him the leader of the artistic group. One of his significant influences was the renowned French painter Henry Matisse.
Zaritsky’s paintings can be characterized by their division into multiple sections. Each section features an equal distribution of color density and brush strokes, resulting in a surface that lacks any formal tensions or narrative plot. He begins his color strokes with thin layers, gradually building up to deep, dense, and opaque paint. The paintings exude a sense of dynamism and musicality.
Light plays a crucial role in Zaritsky’s works, as he skillfully creates vibrant contrasts between dark and light areas. These contrasts contribute to the overall visual impact of the paintings. Additionally, the untouched white portions of the canvas add a touch of poetic tenderness to his compositions.