Beloosesky Gallery is interested in purchasing paintings by Michael Kovner.
Please call (917) 749-4557 or email us at info@beloosesky.com
Michael Kovner, son of famed poet and political activist Abba Kovner, was born on a kibbutz outside of Jerusalem in 1948. From an early age, he showed a special aptitude for the arts and was always encouraged by his parents to pursue his creativity. His art was inspired by an intimate relationship with the land as a result of walking amidst the farmland of his childhood home. Later, while training in a helicopter as part of a select unit of the Israeli Army, he was able to observe the land from a bird’s-eye view. With this foundation of inspiration, Kovner worked and studied in both New York City and Israel.
In 1964 through 1965 Michael Kovner studied with prominent Israeli artist Yohanan Simon in Herzliya, a coastal town north of Tel Aviv. From 1967-1970 Kovner served in the Israeli Army. Upon his discharge from the Army, he traveled to the United States in 1970. Following a visit with family friends in Los Angeles he made a crucial decision to follow his dream of pursuing a career in art by studying in New York City. At the suggestion of art historian, Meyer Shapiro, he enrolled in the New York Studio School in 1972 where he studied with Phillip Guston, Jack Tworkov, Steven Sloman, and Mercedes Matter.
In 1975 Kovner mounts his first exhibition of his New York works at the Jerusalem Artists’ House. The same year he Joined Bezalel Academy of Art and Design as an art instructor, and the American-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarship committee.
Michael Kovner has had solo exhibitions the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, and the Ann Loeb Bronfman Gallery in Washington, D.C.,
His paintings are also included in many private and public collections in both the U.S. and Israel including the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, Israel, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and the Jewish Museum in New York City.
SELECTED ONE-MAN EXHIBITIONS
1975 “Paintings from New-York” Artists House, Jerusalem
1978 “Landscape Drawings: A Bird’s Eye View”, Bineth Gallery, Tel Aviv
1979 “Desert”, Bineth Gallery, Tel Aviv
1981 “Houses in Gaza”, Bineth Gallery, Tel Aviv (catalogue)
1983 “Images”: Paintings according to “Lego”, Gordon Gallery, Tel Aviv (catalogue)
1985 “Meet an Israeli Artist”, Israel Museum, Jerusalem; “Portraits”, Bineth Gallery, Tel Aviv
1988 “Landscapes”, Bineth Gallery, Tel Aviv
1990 “Jerusalem Scenes”, Bineth Gallery, Tel Aviv
1992 “A Girl in a Room”, Bineth Gallery, Tel Aviv
1995 “End of 1995”, Bineth Gallery, Tel Aviv (catalogue)
1996 “Eretz”, N.A.F.I. Gallery, New York
1997 “Eretz”, Yale University, New Haven
1998 “Eretz – Landscapes of Israel”, Ann Loeb Bronfman Gallery, Washington, DC
1998 “Port”, Haifa Museum, Ashdod Museum (catalogue)
2000 “Orchards”, Artspace, Jerusalem; “Haystacks”, Bineth Gallery, Tel Aviv
2001 “The Human Side” David Yellin college of Education, Jerusalem
2002 “Landscapes 1978-2002”, The Museum of Israeli Art, Ramat Gan (book)
2002 “Seascapes”, Gallery on the Cliff, Netanya
2005 “New York Landscapes”, Bineth Gallery Tel Aviv
2006 May 4 "The Mountain and the Sea", George Krevsky Gallery, San Francisco
2007 January "GilboaTabor", Museum of Art, Ein Harod
2007 May "Wadi Tabor", Bineth Gallery, Tel Aviv
2007 "New York Paintings", George Krevsky Gallery, San Francisco
2008 "In the Presence of a Cliff". Ben Gurion University of the Negev (catalogue)
2010 "New York painting" ", Bineth Gallery, Tel Aviv; Book - " New York Painting" 2001-2010
2010 "Observation" - 30 years of observing and painting landscape, Artist's House, Jerusalem
2011 "The Landscapes: Jerusalem and Beit Shean", Roe Green Gallery, Cleveland
2012 "Little Format" Bineth gallery, Tel Aviv
2013 "Exteriors: Michael Kovner", 2011-2012, JCC Manhatten
2015 March 19 - Theatre play "Ezekiel" based on Michael Kovner's graphic novel, at the Khan Theatre .
March - graphic novel "Ezekiel's World" published by "Cohel publishing house"
2019 June - Bochum, Germany - Part of FAMILY STORY - 6 Israeli and Palestinian-Israeli artists on family stories.
Michael is given an entire floor for display. The exhibition is mainly about the book "The World of Ezekiel".
PUBLIC WORKS
Mural - Electricity Company, Jerusalem, Painting on ceramic tiles, 6X4 m., 1997
Mural - Beit-Ha’Oved, Haifa painting on ceramic tiles, 2.5X20 m., 1998
Mural - “Denmark” High School, Jerusalem, oil on wood, 3.4X5 m., 1979
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Jewish Museum, New York
Israel Museum, Jerusalem Tel Aviv
Museum of Art, Haifa
The Open Museum, Tefen
The President’s Residence, Jerusalem
FELLOWSHIPS
1984 Awarded fellowship to study in New York by the American-Israeli Cultural Foundation.