The sculptor and painter Avraham Melnikov was born in Bessarabia. While studying medicine, he decided to become an artist. When his parents refused to support him, he moved to Chicago, where a brother lived. He fought with the Jewish Legion in Palestine during World War I and remained there after being demobilized. His monumental statute at Tel Hai, with its notable evocation of Mesopotamian art, is his most famous work. After its completion, he left for England, where he remained for the next twenty-five years, returning to Israel only a few months before he died. In England, he made a reputation for himself as a portrait painter.
Wasp hive in cow’s skull, Golan Heights. The hive is reminiscent of the swarm of bees and honey that Samson found in a lion’s carcass, which became the subject of his riddle (Judges 14:8).
In 1903, the paintings of Abel Pann had helped draw attention and international outrage to the Kishinev pogrom. Pann again used his art to document the devastation of Jewish communities in Eastern…
The top register of this bulla from Tel ‘Eton shows a grazing doe, carved deeply into the seal with a high degree of craftsmanship. Images of grazing or browsing horned animals were popular, appearing…