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Lot Essay
Abel Pann returned to Palestine from an extended sojourn abroad in 1920. "Even before that date he began to paint biblical themes and ever since dedicated his work mainly to the Bible. Now he used pastel colours, whereas formerly he had painted in oil. He viewed the Bible realistically and the people and landscape of his paintings are of the Orient, as he saw them in Palestine. This is one of the innovations of his work" (Y. Gahnassia in Abel Pann 1883-1963, Jerusalem, Maayanot Gallery, 1987.)
In Biblical Figure of 1924, a dark-skinned young woman, dressed in a caftan and adorned with bracelets and an ornamented head-dress gazes thoughtfully outwards. Behind her lies the tented encampment, radiantly illuminated against the golden orange sand. The artist captures the beauty of the desert in an idealized, spiritual moment.
"Such is the symbolist world of Abel Pann : a world of dangers and anxiety, but a world which finds consolation in sublime erotic beauty, and above all, a world entirely irradiated by a supreme sanctity." (Y. Zalmona in Ibid.).
In Biblical Figure of 1924, a dark-skinned young woman, dressed in a caftan and adorned with bracelets and an ornamented head-dress gazes thoughtfully outwards. Behind her lies the tented encampment, radiantly illuminated against the golden orange sand. The artist captures the beauty of the desert in an idealized, spiritual moment.
"Such is the symbolist world of Abel Pann : a world of dangers and anxiety, but a world which finds consolation in sublime erotic beauty, and above all, a world entirely irradiated by a supreme sanctity." (Y. Zalmona in Ibid.).