Item: i121424


Authentic Medal of:

Israel – State Art Medal by Mané-Katz
No-Date (circa 1988) Gold Medal 24mm (10.36 grams) 18k 0.750 gold (0.25 oz. AGW)
Individually numbered #1657  
Mintage: 3500
Certification: NGC  PF 67 ULTRA CAMEO  2159306-008
Colored, framed lithograph “Vase of Flowers”. The words “FESTIVE FLOWERS” in English and “speak to me with flowers” in Hebrew. The artist’s name in Hebrew.
Relief of the sculpture “The Double-Bass Player at a Jewish Wedding”. In Hebrew, the words “the tune returns” and in English, “Mazel Tov”, arranged as notes on a staff. The artist’s signature.
Edge Lettering: G-750 STATE OF ISRAEL 1657

The sculpture “The Double-Bass Player” is one of the series of ‘Jewish Musicians” by Mane-Katz, who began sculpting at age 46 in plaster, and later moved to bronze. The painting “Vase of Flowers” is among the favorite subjects of Mane-Katz’s paintings. In strong, dramatic colors, the artist depicts giant flowers which fill nearly the entire canvas. Mane-Katz was born in the Ukraine in 1894. Until age 16 he learned in a “heder” and yeshiva in his birthplace. Later, he studied in the Vilna School of Art and in the art academy in Kiev. In 1913 he spent a year in Paris, and returned there in 1921. During World War II he lived in the United States. His favorite theme is the Hasidic world. He visited Israel frequently and died in Tel Aviv in 1962. Designer: Yitzhak Bibas using the works of Mane-Katz. Lithography and color separation – David Tamerin.

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Emmanuel Mané-Katz (Hebrew: מאנה כץ), born Mane Leyzerovich Kats (1894-1962), was a Litvak painter of the School of Paris, born in Kremenchuk, Russian Empire (now in Ukraine), best known for his depictions of the Jewish shtetl in Eastern Europe.

Biography

Mané-Katz moved to Paris at the age of 19 to study art, although his father wanted him to be a rabbi. During the First World War he returned to Russia, at first working and exhibiting in Petrograd; following the October Revolution, he traveled back to Kremenchuk, where he taught art. In 1921, due to the ongoing fighting in his hometown during the civil war, he moved once again to Paris. There he became friends with Pablo Picasso and other important artists, and was affiliated with the art movement known as the School of Paris; together with other outstanding Jewish artists of that milieu, that include Chaim Soutine, Isaac Frenkel Frenel, Amadeo Modigliani, Marc Chagall and others; he is sometimes considered to be part of a group referred to specifically as the Jewish School of Paris.

In 1931, Mané-Katz’s painting The Wailing Wall was awarded a gold medal at the Paris World’s Fair.

The Quartet, oil on canvas by Mané-Katz, 1930s

Early on, his style was classical and somber, but his palette changed in later years to bright, primary colors, with an emphasis on Jewish themes. His oils feature Hassidic characters, rabbis, Jewish musicians, beggars, yeshiva students and scenes from the East European shtetl.

Mané-Katz made his first trip to Mandate Palestine in 1928, and thereafter visited the country annually. He said his actual home was Paris, but his spiritual home was Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel.

Mané-Katz Museum

Mané-Katz left his paintings and extensive personal collection of Jewish ritual art to the city of Haifa, Israel. Four years before his death, the mayor of Haifa, Abba Hushi, provided him with a building on Mount Carmel to house his work, which became the Mané-Katz Museum. The exhibit includes Mané-Katz’s oils, showing a progressive change in style over the years, a signed portrait of the artist by Picasso dated 1932 and a large collection of Jewish ritual objects.

In 1953, Mané-Katz donated eight of his paintings to the Glitzenstein Museum in Safed, whose artists quarter attracted leading Israeli artists in the 1950s and 1960s, and housed some of the country’s most important galleries.

Israel (Hebrew: יִשְׂרָאֵל‬; Arabic: إِسْرَائِيل‎), officially the State of Israel, is a country in the Middle East, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. It has land borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan on the east, the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the east and west, respectively, and Egypt to the southwest. The country contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. Israel’s economic and technological center is Tel Aviv, while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, although the state’s sovereignty over Jerusalem has only partial recognition.

<pisrael has="" evidence="" of="" the="" earliest="" migration="" hominids="" out="" africa.="" canaanite="" tribes="" are="" archaeologically="" attested="" since="" middle="" bronze="" age,="" while="" kingdoms="" israel="" and="" judah="" emerged="" during="" iron="" age.="" neo-assyrian="" empire="" destroyed="" around="" 720="" bce.="" was="" later="" conquered="" by="" babylonian,="" persian="" hellenistic="" empires="" had="" existed="" as="" jewish="" autonomous="" provinces.="" successful="" maccabean="" revolt="" led="" to="" an="" independent="" hasmonean="" kingdom="" 110="" bce,="" which="" in="" 63="" bce="" however="" became="" a="" client="" state="" roman="" republic="" that="" subsequently="" installed="" herodian="" dynasty="" 37="" 6="" ce="" created="" province="" judea.="" judea="" lasted="" until="" failed="" revolts="" resulted="" widespread="" destruction,="" expulsion="" population="" renaming="" region="" from="" Iudaea to Syria Palaestina. Jewish presence in the region has persisted to a certain extent over the centuries. In the 7th century the Levant was taken from the Byzantine Empire by the Arabs and remained in Muslim control until the First Crusade of 1099, followed by the Ayyubid conquest of 1187. The Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt extended its control over the Levant in the 13th century until its defeat by the Ottoman Empire in 1517. During the 19th century, national awakening among Jews led to the establishment of the Zionist movement in the diaspora followed by waves of immigration to Ottoman and later British Palestine.