JUDAICA PAL BELL VINTAGE MODERNIST PATINA BRASS VASE ISRAEL 1950s

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JUDAICA PAL BELL VINTAGE MODERNIST PATINA BRASS VASE ISRAEL 1950s:
$199.99

JUDAICA PAL BELL VINTAGE MODERNIST PATINA BRASS VASE

ISRAEL 1950s

VASE IS VARNISHED

HEIGHT: 26.8 cm. (10.5\")

DIAMETER TO TOP: 4.8 cm. (1.9\")

DIAMETER OF BOTTOM: 8 cm. (3.1\")

WEIGHT: 546 gr.

SOME WEAR TO TOP AND TO EDGE OF BOTTOM

Maurice Ascalon (Hebrew: מוריסאשקלון‎;1913–2003) was an Israeli designer and sculptor. He was, by some accounts, considered thefather of the modern Israeli decorative arts movement.

MauriceAscalon was born as Moshe Klein in Eastern Hungary. From an earlyage, he was determined to pursue his artistic yearnings, however in order to doso, he was forced to abandon his ultra-religious Chasidic Jewish roots – forartistic expression was frowned upon in the Eastern Hungarian “shtetl” in which he wasraised. When he was 15 years old Klein left his family and boyhood home tostudy art at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. He took with himan in-depth understanding of the rituals and traditions of the Jewishceremonies, which knowledge he would later apply to his artistic endeavors.

In 1934,after undertaking his formal artistic training in Brussels and later Milan, Maurice Ascalonimmigrated to the land of Israel (then the British Mandate of Palestine). There he met hiswife-to-be, Zipora Kartujinsky, a Polish-born Jew,granddaughter to the distinguished cartographer and scientist of the samesurname. (Zipora, who died in 1982,became a sculptor in her own right late in her life, creating magnificent basreliefs depicting the Shtetl life of her childhood).

In 1939,Maurice Ascalon designed and created the enormous 14-foot-tall (4.3m)hammered repoussé copper reliefsculpture of three figures, \"The Toiler of the Soil, the Laborer and theScholar\", which adorned the façade of the Jewish Palestine Pavilion of the1939 New York World\'s Fair. Ascalon was commissioned tocreate this work for the historically significant Pavilion which introduced theworld to the concept of a modern Jewish state. (The work is now part of the collection of the Spertus Institute for Jewish Learningand Leadership in Chicago.)

In thelate 1930s, Ascalon founded an Israeli decorative arts manufacturingcompany, Pal-Bell, which producedtrademark bronze and brass menorahs and other Judaic and seculardecorative art and functional items that were exported in large numbersworldwide. Maurice Ascalon\'s well-recognized designs, some artdeco, others more traditional, introduced the use of a deliberate,chemically induced green patina (verdigris) to Israelimetalwork, which is now a hallmark of Israel\'s crafts industry. During Israel\'sWar for Independence in 1948, Maurice designed munitions for the Israeli Armyand, at the request of the Israeli government, retrofitted his factory toproduce munitions for the war effort. In 1956 Maurice immigrated to the UnitedStates.

During thelatter part of the 1950s through the 1960s, Maurice resided in New York and LosAngeles. He gained a reputation as a master silversmith, creating forsynagogues magnificent Torah crowns and other lobjects of Jewish ceremonial art that he first learned of inhis youth. For a time, he taught sculpture on the fine arts faculty of the University of Judaism (now the American Jewish University) in LosAngeles.

In thelate 1970s, Maurice’s workshop, now formally dubbed Ascalon Studios, relocated to the Philadelphia area. It became(and still is today, under the direction of Maurice’s son, DavidAscalon) a multifaceted art studio dedicated to the design of and creation ofsite-specific art for worship and public spaces.

InFebruary 2003, Maurice Ascalon celebrated his 90th birthday as a resident of Cuernavaca, Mexico, where he lived with his eldest son, AdirAscalon (Adir was a surrealist painter and sculptor who collaborated with thenoted Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros). In August 2003, MauriceAscalon succumbed to complications related to Parkinson\'s Disease, an illness he endured during most of thefinal decade of his life.

MauriceAscalon’s commissions include permanent installations at worship and publicspaces throughout the United States, Mexico, and Israel. His works have beenexhibited at and are among the collections of institutions including the Jewish Museum (New York), the Museum of AmericanJewish History in Philadelphia, Spertus Institute for Jewish Learningand Leadership in Chicago, the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv, and theUniversity of Judaism in Los Angeles.