SHEMI (Schmidt), MENAHEM

SHEMI (Schmidt), MENAHEM (1897–1951), Israeli painter. Shemi was born in Russia and immigrated to Palestine in 1913. In World War II, he served in the British army in Egypt, North Africa, and Italy. Shemi was one of the founders of the artists' colony in Safed (1949). Shemi was principally a landscapist. His palette, originally somber, became bright in his later years; his mystic, dreamlike canvases of Safed are considered his best works. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Bassock (ed.), Menaḥem Shemi (Heb., 1958). (Yona Fischer)