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Lot Essay
Itzhak Danziger studied art at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. He had an expressed interest in ancient sculpture which he saw at the British Museum. Danziger returned to Eretz Israel in 1938, and in 1939 sculpted his famed Nimrod and Shabazia in Nubian sandstone.
Conceived in the 1950s, after a sojourn in Europe and in London, Ein Gedi represents Itzhak Danziger's interest in the animal life. In particular he was interested in desert creatures, such as the goat and the sheep. Best known among these sculptures are the Desert Sheep as well as numerous pen and ink drawings of this subject. During World War II, when Danziger toured the Negev desert, he was drawn to the sheep which were part of the landscape, either as domestic animals, part of the Bedouin household, or as part of the desert landscape. 'Danziger saw in the sheep a meeting between nature and culture'. (M. Omer, op. cit., p. 169)
The artist was fascinated by the relationship between man and animal, between a world of order and that of disorder. Prof. Mordecai Omer relates: "Animals as a microcosm of existence occupy a prominent place in Danziger's work and thinking, and 'wilderness' constitutes one of the elements of the "wondrous ecological balance"...These animals at times appear as elements which have been "called to order" during the work process: geometric outlines, frames, grids" (Ibid., p. 139).
Conceived in the 1950s, after a sojourn in Europe and in London, Ein Gedi represents Itzhak Danziger's interest in the animal life. In particular he was interested in desert creatures, such as the goat and the sheep. Best known among these sculptures are the Desert Sheep as well as numerous pen and ink drawings of this subject. During World War II, when Danziger toured the Negev desert, he was drawn to the sheep which were part of the landscape, either as domestic animals, part of the Bedouin household, or as part of the desert landscape. 'Danziger saw in the sheep a meeting between nature and culture'. (M. Omer, op. cit., p. 169)
The artist was fascinated by the relationship between man and animal, between a world of order and that of disorder. Prof. Mordecai Omer relates: "Animals as a microcosm of existence occupy a prominent place in Danziger's work and thinking, and 'wilderness' constitutes one of the elements of the "wondrous ecological balance"...These animals at times appear as elements which have been "called to order" during the work process: geometric outlines, frames, grids" (Ibid., p. 139).