Miron Sima Figurative Woodcut "The Bride," 1970

Item Details

Miron Sima (Israeli, 1902 – 1999)
The Bride, 1970
Relief print on paper
Signed to lower margin
Numbered 48/75

Miron Sima: Born in a shtetl in Czarist Russia, Miron Sima first studied art in Odessa in 1921. In the following year he moved to Dresden, Germany to continue his studies. For a seven year period Sima both studied and worked at Dresden’s Academy of Fine Arts under the important Expressionist artist, Otto Dix. Dix taught Sima both painting and graphic art techniques and had a wide ranging influence upon the younger artist. Like Dix, Sima often explored the effects of poverty and victimization in his art. Miron Sima’s woodcuts were widely exhibited throughout Germany by 1930 and he was awarded the prestigious Dresden Art Prize in 1932. Sadly, with the rise of Hitler and the Nazis he was the last Jew to receive such an award.
Miron Sima moved to Palestine in 1933. He first settled in Tel Aviv and supported himself by designing theatre sets. Five years later he settled permanently in Jerusalem and taught art classes. In 1949 Miron Sima co-founded the Jerusalem Artists House and was among the first to participate in its exhibitions. During the following years he was twice awarded the Dizengoff Prize and a medal at the Venice Biennale (1963). Miron Sima was a full member of the Art Academies of both Zurich and Florence.
Despite Miron Sima’s international successes, however, he was often neglected in Israel. Around 1950 the abstract art of the New Horizons movement began to dominate throughout the country. Realist and Expressionist artists such as Miron Sima often worked on in obscurity. Yet from 1955 to 1977, Sima produced a number of brilliant colour woodcuts which gave him an international recognition throughout Europe. Beggars Sleeping Outdoors is one of his largest and most impressive works of art in this medium. Because of the size of this woodcut and the artist’s poverty, he had to glue two sheets of blue construction paper together for each of the thirty-five impressions.
Since Miron Sima’s death, Israel has re-discovered both his art and the work of other important early Israeli artists. Fortunately, Sima willed his estate to Jerusalem’s Ein Harod Museum of Art. The museum now houses many paintings and prints from all periods of Sima’s career. Major retrospectives of Sima’s art were held in Israel in both 2000 and 2001.
- biography from artoftheprint.com

• Item not examined outside of mounting

Condition

- slight discolorations; wear to mat and frame.

Dimensions

- measures frame; image measures 18" W x 23.25" H.

Item #

ITMGJ14547