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Israel Paldi (Feldman), Israeli, born 1892, Russian Empire

Israel Paldi was born in Radynsk (today Ukraine). In 1900, his family moved to Switzerland. In 1908 or 1909, he immigrated to the Land of Israel and was accepted to the Bezalel School of Art based on a recommendation by Samuel Hirshenberg. He studied there for a few months and then worked as an agricultural laborer and orchard watchman. In 1911, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich under Hugo von Habermann. After the outbreak of World War I, he tried to return to the Land of Israel but was forced to remain in Constantinople, Turkey until the war was over.

In 1920, Paldi joined the modern art movement. His work was shown at David's Tower in 1921 and 1924, the Modern Artists Exhbition in 1926, the Ohel theater in Tel Aviv in 1926, and the second exhibit of the Masad group in 1930. He had his first solo exhibit in 1923 at the Lemel School in Jerusalem and Gymnasia Herzliya in Tel Aviv. In 1928, he was elected secretary of the Painters Association, which moved its headquarters to Tel Aviv. In 1929, he opened a painting studio in Tel Aviv. In the 1930s, he visited France several times. In 1957 his son was killed in the line of duty. He took part in the Sao Paulo Art Biennial in 1958 and the Venice Biennial in 1958. He lived in Paris in 1958-1960.

In the 1920s, Paldi's work featured folkloristic motifs and exotic oriental figues. Well-known paintings from this period are "Arab sailors" (1928) and "Landscape" (1928), which present a pastoral image of the country. His later work, from the 1940s, shows the influence of French art, with experiments in abstraction, the use of collage and assemblage, and the introduction of imaginary animals and creatures.

Education

1911-14 Munich, Germany, under Hugo Von Habermann
1911 Bezalel Academy of Art, Jerusalem.

Teaching

1914-20 Ezra School, Constantinople, Turkey, Painting,
1914-20 Hebrew high school run by Dr. Marcus, Constantinople, Turkey, German language,
1920 Gymnasia Herzliya and School for Workers' Children, Tel Aviv, Art,

Awards And Prizes

1926 Prize for Stage Set for "The Fisherman's Tent", Paris
1943 Dizengoff Prize, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv
1959 Dizengoff Prize
1971 Milo Club Prize