Yitzhak Frenkel

Yitzhak Frenkel, also known as Isaac Frenkel or Alexandre Frenel, was an Israeli painter, sculptor and teacher. He was one of the leading Jewish artists of the l’École de Paris and its chief practitioner in Israel, gaining international recognition during his lifetime.
Frenkel is considered the father of modern Israeli art. He is accredited with bringing the influence of the l’École de Paris to Israel, which until then was dominated by Orientalism.
Throughout his life he lived and worked in Portugal, South Africa, France, Odessa and Israel.
He died in Tel Aviv in 1981 and was buried in Safed.

Early life

Odessa

Yitzhak Frenkel was born in Odessa, Russian Empire to a Jewish family. He was a great-grandson of Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev. In his youth he studied in a yeshiva where he met Chaim Glicksberg. As a child he lived right next to Bialik's and Rawnitzki's publishing house "Moriah". In 1917, he studied under Aleksandra Ekster, an influential constructivist, cubist and futurist teacher and painter at the Fine Arts Academy in Odessa, one of the leading art schools in the Tsarist Russia. His early years in Odessa were characterized by famine, pogroms, war and factional fighting in the Russian Empire, prompting him to explore Utopian themes, the classics and deepen his studies in the Bible, Talmud and Gemara. These themes were incorporated in his future art.

Early influence on his Art

Frenkel was also influenced by the paintings of the abstract musicalists shown in Odessa in 1917. Their symphonies of blue along with the musical nature of their colourful art were heavily present in Frenkel's later works. They took hold in Frenkel's attempts to express his deep feelings in his encounter with mystical Safed, their influence expresses itself in the painter's wandering blue strokes. The avant-garde art of Odessa and Russian in general would also manifest itself in some of Frenkel's works his thought and his early cubist and abstract art.
Frenkel immigrated to Mandate Palestine in 1919 with the first wave of settlers of the Third Aliyah, on board the SS. Ruslan.

First period in Mandatory Palestine

In 1920, Frenkel pursued several artistic endeavors. He established the Ha-Tomer artists' cooperative along with the art patron Jacob Pereman, the painters Judith and Joseph Konstantinovsky Had Gadya and the sculptor Lev Halperin. Furthermore, he opened a small artists' studio in the carpentry of the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium, whence he taught painting and sculpture.
Having heard of Safed on the SS Ruslan from refugees from Safed as well as envoys of the Yishuv, Frenkel visited the city for the first time in 1920. Safed would become a major theme in Frenkel's art as well as a source of inspiration and later his home.
The battle of Tel Hai in 1920, prompted the quick gathering of young Jews to assist Joseph Trumpeldor and his company. However, they had arrived to late. Frenkel sketched and later painted the aftermath of the battle.
Later that year, he exhibited in Alexandria, accompanied by Judith and Joseph Constant. Due to economic hardship and dissatisfaction from the lack of appreciation toward modern art in the Yishuv, Frenkel left for France.

Formation in Paris

Frenkel and the École de Paris

Frenkel then studied in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts and at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière at the studios of the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle and painter Henri Matisse. At the time his painting were abstract. Towards the end of 1920, he traveled to Egypt where he showcased his works in an exhibition before returning to Paris.
Frenkel arrived in Paris just a few months after the death of Modigliani. Frenkel's time in Paris was crucial in the formation of the young artist. Frenkel's expressionistic style developed greatly during this period. His early days in Paris were characterized by poverty and hunger. He was evicted from his room and forced to live in the streets and under the bridges, leading a life seeking only art and basic necessities. At last he received a living stipend/scholarship from Wormser, an aid to the Baron de Rothschild lifting him from poverty.
He lived in Montparnasse and exhibited his work with his contemporaries and friends, Chaim Soutine, Michel Kikoine, Jules Pascin, Streling, Kostia Terechkovitch along with other Jewish artists of the École de Paris. He would also spend time in La Ruche in Montparnasse where he would meet other painters of the era. Frenkel would participate in long sessions with his fellow Jewish artists; he described thus their art: "members of the minority characterized by restlessness whose expressionism is therefore extreme in its emotionalism". In this period he also created abstract modernist works that were characteristic of the avant-garde trends in the French capital.

Exhibitions and recognition

He exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants alongside other artists of the time such as Soutine. They were both noticed by art critic Waldermar George. Waldermar George told Frenkel during the time "Do not return to Palestine, they will eat you there". In 1924, the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian acquired two of his abstract paintings for an English collector. He also exhibited at the Salon d'Automne, and the Salon des Arts Sacrés.
"Remarkable in every respect: Picasso, Braque, Leger... and among the youngsters, Soutine, Frenel and Mane Katz"

Revolutionary of modern art in the Jewish Yishuv

Art Pioneer

Frenkel returned to Palestine in 1925, where he revolutionized the visual arts. He opened the Histadrut Art School in Tel Aviv, the first studio of modern art in mandatory Palestine. He was considered extreme in his artistic orientations by his contemporaries. At the time Palestine, isolated from new developments in European art and seeking to adhere to religious-nationalistic work in the Art-Nouveau Style; saw art that was not at pace with art of European Capitals and deeply influenced by Orientalism. Frenkel's style was closer to the abstract and cubist painting of Paris than the orientalism popular in Palestine at that time. He was one of the country's first abstract painters. Frenkel did not demand even one grush from his students for his teaching.
His students included Shimshon Holzman, Mordechai Levanon, David Hendler, Joseph Kossonogi, Genia Berger and Siona Tagger. He was a mentor to Bezalel students Avigdor Stematsky, Yehezkel Streichman, Moshe Castel, and Arie Aroch. Several of his students included Bezalel art students who would visit Tel Aviv in order to absorb the "maestero's" teachings.
Frenkel revealed to his students the principles of French painting and weaned them away from the academic influence of the School Of Munich as well as the Russian schools of which he himself was originally perhaps a part of.

Style and Thoughts: The first Abstract painter

Frenkel's Parisian expressionism and modern French influence also influenced him as a teacher. Those who studied under him absorbed French influence and went to study in Paris in the 1920s and 1930s. Frenkel taught his students about Cézanne and Van Gogh and techniques he had learned in France. as well as Post-Impressionism. Which as of yet unknown. Frenkel had a pivotal role in propelling the art and cultural scene into modern trends. He taught his students the principles of color, texture and composition. He exposed his students to Jewish Expressionism as well as the intellectual basis and techniques of French art. On the Jewish School of Paris, he said "Like Jewish baroque, penetrating French romanticism, like Delacroix's"
In response to Jerusalem's conservative Bezalel's exhibitions, Frenkel's Tel-Aviv art studio in 1926, exhibited at the "Ohel" theater in the "Modern Artists" exhibition. Frenkel too exhibited, showing geometric compositions alongside landscape paintings. These were the first abstract paintings shown in the country. Frenkel and his students were described as "Modern Artists".
Frenkel's work and studio was one of the major factors in the cultural shift in importance in respect to Jewish art, from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv.
Upon his return home, Frenkel was struck by the gap between Paris, and the art of the Jewish Yishuv. He felt that he could not express the pioneers' struggle for survival in abstract art. Frenkel said "The intellectuals here turned to agriculture and road building. I wanted to plant a seed in this unsown land. It is impossible to imitate Israeli art; it must grow organically from the land". Furthermore, Frenkel in his rencounter with the mystical city of Safed, one of the great subjects of his art, feeling thus: "To paint here, is possible only through the direct contact with the landscape, like Russian songs attached to the Volga".

Second Parisian Period

Following the great depression, the economic situation brought about the closure of the Histadrut art studio, following which Frenkel had to leave the Yishuv in search of better economic prospects. Between 1929 and 1934 Frenkel returned to Paris. During Frenkel created several frescos, an art he would continue endeavoring most of his life. In order to complement his dull income, Frenkel worked in French movie sets, creating decorative pieces and designing sets for Pathé as well as theatres.
In reaction to European events, the Ecole de Paris artists including Frenkel returned to paint in a more humanist style, in light of this Frenkel began to paint in a more realistic style. Furthermore, the subjects of his painting turned more frequently to human centered themes and less of the abstract exploration of the previous decade. Sensing the growing anti-Semitism, Frenkel left Europe in 1934, returning to Mandatory Palestine.

Safed and Tel Aviv, 1930s, 40s

Safed

Reminiscent of his early encounter of Safed in 1920. In 1934, he made Safed his home, becoming the first artist to settle in the ancient holy city, 14 years before the "Artists' Colony" was formally established. There he painted the ancient synagogues, narrow lanes, local inhabitants and surrounding countryside.
He first encountered Safed after his Aliya to Mandatory Palestine in 1919, the ancient city left a deep impression on the young artist. Frenkel was entranced and mystified by the city's colours, its shades of blue, the chants of prayer and the alleyways. Frenkel romanticized the city and its landscapes. This is evident in his portrayal of Safed, mystic and spiritual, things unseen and hidden from the naked eye which the artist attempts to reveal. Frenkel, found in Safed a spirituality and inspiration that was harder to find elsewhere. According to Keehanski, in Safed, Frenkel felt he could connect with the long history of the Jewish people. Frenkel painted the ancient synagogues, narrow lanes, rabbis and their students, scenes of Jewish life, local residents and the landscape of Mount Meron.
Safed would remain a major theme of Frenkel's art, he would paint the houses in slanted forms as though they were dancing. Safed was between dreams and reality in his work. In his biblical art, figures from the Old Testament strolled and met in the Safed alleyways or its surrounding landscapes. He painted Jacob fighting the angel against the backdrop of Safed's mountains. Several of Frenkel's Safed works are full of hot volcanic colors. The sky fiery and trees bent by the power of this creation. Frenkel sought not to explore Safed's reality but the underlying mystery and burning emotionality of the ancient city. Safed's mysticism remained ever present in many of Frenkel's works, even in his later time in France: "A man cannot escape himself, I am my own eternal violin".