Allweil Arieh

Biography

Arieh Allweil (born 1901 in Boibrik (Bíbrka, Galicia) and died 1967) was an Israeli painter and pioneer. After founding a group of "HaShomer HaTza'ir" in his hometown, he immigrated to Palestine in 1920 where he participated in the founding of Upper Bitaniyah, an attempt at colonization of the group in Palestine. In 1921, he left this group to study art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, where he joined the avant-garde group of artists Kunstschau, including Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. During this period, he produced his first works of art, including the series of prints "Turah Aforah" inspired by his stay in Upper Bitaniyah.
In 1926, Allweil returned to Palestine, where he became a painter, teacher, and one of the founders of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the Israel Painters and Sculptors Association, and the HaMidrasha art school in Tel Aviv. He also self-published his books through the Hillel publishing house he founded. Working primarily outdoors, he developed a unique style of landscape painting influenced by the soft morning light. His autobiographical writings reveal his challenges in adapting to the local light and "conquering" the landscape of Eretz Israel, breaking away from Cubism and Fauvism in his paintings.
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In her autobiographical writings, Arieh Allweil recalls: "For two years I destroyed everything I painted. The landscape of Eretz-Israel refused to be seen by a painter from the Vienna Woods [...] The blazing sun tore my paintings apart with dullness. It is not easy to 'conquer' this landscape [...] The landscape of Eretz-Israel chased away all traces of Cubism, and Fauvism too, from my paintings" (Arieh Allweil: Letters, Figures, Landscapes, by Galia Bar Or. Mishkan Museum of Art, Ein Harod, 2015. p. 90).