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Israeli artists took home more than USD 4,037,100 at an auction at Sotheby's Auction House in Manhattan, organizers said.
“The auction showed that Israeli art stands for itself and does not need the assistance of international artists,” said auction manager Jennifer Roth. “The results will encourage Sotheby's to continue selling Israeli art in the United States.”
One notable Israeli piece that was sold was a painting of a combination of playing cards by Mordechai Ardon, a Polish-born Jew who also goes by the name Max Bronstein. The piece, which stood at 71 feet (180 cm), sold for USD 190,000. Reuven Rubin’s colorful “The Tel Aviv Area,” which he painted in 1923, sold for USD 204,000.
Israeli art takes off
Israeli art is slowly breaking ground in New York, with several pieces currently being presented in a contemporary exhibit in the Chelsea Art Museum and some in the Armory Show near the Hudson River.
This is the second year Sotheby's has included Israeli artwork in its international art auction. Israeli art sales have suffered in past years, buoyed by a four-year Palestinian uprising. The drop in business prompted Sotheby's to cancel its sales of Israeli paintings in Tel Aviv and move such auctions to New York.
Israeli sculptors also made a big showing at the auction. Yitzhak Danziger's “Head of a Man”, a 15-inch (29 cm) stone statue, was sold for USD 174,000. Two huge steel sculptures created by artist Menashe Kadishman, from the world-renowned collection of Philip and Muriel Berman, a Jewish couple from Pennsylvania, raked in USD 72,000.
A photograph by Adi Ness that pictured IDF troops sitting at a typical army mess hall was sold to a religious Jew for USD 102,000.