Mountain B

Menashe Kadishman (Tel Aviv 1932–2015 Ramat Gan)
Tel Aviv, 1974
Screenprint, h. 33 x w. 27 in.
Cincinnati Skirball Museum, gift of Nancy M. Berman and Alan J. Bloch, 2018.11

Born in Tel Aviv, Kadishman studied with Israeli sculptors Moshe Sternschuss and Rudi Lehmann in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem respectively in the late 1940s and early 1950s. In 1959 he moved to London, where he studied and remained until 1972. Kadishman’s sculptures of the 1960s were Minimalist in style and were designed to appear to defy gravity, either through careful balance and construction, or by using glass and metal so that the metal appears unsupported.

Most famous for his metallic sculptures and colorful sheep paintings, Kadishman also made conceptually abstract works. Mountain B features neutral tones of brown, orange and gray for land and sky, which appear somewhat naturalistic. The black disc surrounding the mountain is unexpected and jarring, punctuating the otherwise tranquil landscape. In other versions of this work, the disc is bright orange.

Kadishman returned to Israel in 1972 and lived in Tel Aviv, where he earned the Israel Prize in 1995.