Monts du Negev (Negev Mountains)

Marcel Janco (Romania 1895–1984, Ein Hod, Israel)
Israel, ca. 1960
Screen print, h. 26 ½ x w. 19 5/8 in.
Cincinnati Skirball Museun, gift of Nancy M. Berman and Alan J. Bloch, 2018.10

Born to a wealthy family in Bucharest, Romania, Janco relocated to Zurich in his twenties and was active in developing the avante-garde Dada movement in reaction to the horrors and folly of war. By the time he immigrated to Mandate Palestine in 1941, he had already participated in the transformative artistic movements of pre-Second World War Europe, including Cubism and German Expressionism.  Janco played a major role in the modernization of Israeli art, importing the latest trends from Europe. Once established he joined local artists in developing a more abstract approach to depictions of the local landscape and also turned his attention to pertinent local themes. Janco’s significance for avant-garde Israeli art continues today, through the still-active artist’s colony he established in Ein Hod, a village in northern Israel located at the foot of Mount Carmel.