Born in Jaffa, the daughter of immigrants from Bulgaria, Ziona Tagger was the first Israeli-born woman artist. She studied at the Bezalel Academy of Arts in Jerusalem but found its aesthetic traditionalism (for example, its adherence to strictly representational art) too restrictive and moved to Paris to continue her training. When she returned to Mandate Palestine, she took part in exhibitions of the young modernist artists. She was known for her portraits and landscapes, whose style drew on cubism and naïve art.
“Reb Hersh,” I finally said, “as I sat here listening to you, I sometimes thought I was listening to myself. And since it’s harder to lie to yourself than to someone else, I will answer you as though…
Jacob Epstein’s primitive style was not to everyone’s liking, especially when it came to his sculptures with biblical and religious themes. The overt sexuality of some of his sculptures also aroused…
If I had to pick one defining moment in my Iranian life, it would be 5:00 a.m. one Friday in the fall of 1968. I was fifteen. Normally I woke to the sounds of a peddler selling green almonds and fava…