Anne

Arikha immigrated to Palestine in 1944 and two years later enrolled at the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts. In 1949 he left for Paris to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. In the 1950s he illustrated books and, well versed in art history, also wrote his first articles on art. During the years 1958 - 65 Arikha painted in an abstract mode and then entered a phase during which he drew profusely from nature. He took up oil painting again in 1973, and since then his work in both media has explored the possibilities of representation from life. This drawing depicts the artist's wife, Anne, whom he has drawn and painted repeatedly through the years. She appears in various guises: clumsily posed, as if unaware of being "documented" - asleep, reading, calm, and relaxed - or posing, model-like, as in this drawing - frontal, formal, on guard. She is placed left of center, as if deliberately having deviated from the central space allotted to her. Her face is rendered through shading, attracting the viewer's attention; her crown of hair seems to stand on end, adding to the sense of tension.