ASCHHEIM, ISIDOR

ASCHHEIM, ISIDOR (1891–1968), Israel painter. For most of the decade after 1940, Aschheim was practically the only Israel artist making etchings and lithographs and was mainly responsible for imparting these techniques to the new generation of Israel artists. Aschheim was born in Posen, Germany, and studied at the Breslau Art Academy under Otto Mueller, a member of Die Bruecke Group. He traveled in Italy and France, and upon his return to Breslau, devoted himself to painting, drawing, printmaking, and lithography. He arrived in Palestine in 1940, settled in Jerusalem, and from 1943 taught drawing at the Bezalel School of Art. Aschheim was a representative of the Jerusalem School, which was created by a group of artists who were refugees from the Nazi regime. Aschheim's work, which in Germany had been close to the moderate expressionism of Mueller, mellowed by contact with the Judean landscape. The importance of his work lies primarily in his printmaking. Aschheim won few prizes during his lifetime: the Diezengoff Prize in 1951 and the Jerusalem Art Prize in 1955. In 1956 he participated in the Venice Biennale. Two of his works, Tiberias (1949) and Oriental Figure, are on view in the Fine Art Museum at San Francisco. (Yona Fischer)