Benni Efrat

Benni Efrat
Benni Efrat
Born	1936 Beirut, Lebanon
Nationality	Israeli
Education	Avni Institute of Art and Design in Tel Aviv, Saint Martin's School of Art, London
Known for	Conceptual art
Movement	Israeli art

Benni Efrat (born 1936) is an Israeli painter, sculptor, printmaker and filmmaker who was born in Beirut, Lebanon.

Biography

Benni Efrat immigrated to Palestine in 1947. From 1959 to 1961, he studied at the Avni Institute of Art and Design in Tel Aviv under Yehezkel Streichman (1906–1993). From 1966 to 1976, he lived in London, where he studied at Saint Martin's School of Art in London.

Art career

Benni Efrat was one of the first of Israeli Conceptual artists and influenced others in this direction (e.g., Joshua Neustein, Michael Gitlin, Buky Schwartz). His works were systems of components which spoke for themselves and sought to represent no more than the sum of their parts. In the mid-1970s his displays were accompanied by films, on the back of which the artist had painted. After settling in New York City in 1976, became involved with conceptual art, producing drawings, prints and photographs that explore energy, space and the perception in sculpture. Efrat currently lives in Belgium.

Awards and recognition

• 1966 America-Israel Cultural Foundation
• 1969 Sixth Paris Biennale for Young Artists
• 1974 Sandberg Prize for Israeli Art, Israel Museum of Jerusalem
• 1992 America-Israel Cultural Foundation

Gallery

• 

  Substance moving, 1969
  Sponge, foam rubber and metal panel

• 

  Energy, 1969
  Stainless steel
  Tel Aviv University

• 

  Extrapolations, limestone and steel cable sculpture, 1978, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel

• 

  Stain on the Vision, 1999
  Zinc coated barbed wire sculpture
  Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv

• 

  Acrylic painting on paper
  Private collection

See also

• Visual arts in Israel

References

External links

• Benni Efrat collection at the Israel Museum. Retrieved February 2012
• "Benni Efrat". Information Center for Israeli Art. Israel Museum. Retrieved February 2012.
• Art of Benni Efrat at Europeana. Retrieved February 2012
• Bex, F., W. van Mulders, and H. van Pelt, Beyond Surface: Peter Berg, Benni Efrat, Tim Head, Buky Schwartz, Antwerp. Internationaal Cultureel Centrum, 1980.
• Gintz, Claude, Benni Efrat: Quest for Light, Paris, Internationaal Cultureel Centrum, 1982.
• Ikon Gallery, In fusion: New European Art: Ben Bella, Carlos Capelan, Benni Efrat, Chohreh Feyzdjou, Claudio Goulart, Ying Liang, Lea Lubin, As M'Bengue, Flavio Pons, Felix de Rooy, Ohannes Tapyuli, Birmingham, UK, Ikon Gallery, 1993.
• Internationaal Cultureel Centrum, Nature's Factory, Winter 2046, 1888: Benni Efrat and Ronny SomeckWinter 2046, Jerusalem, The Israel Museum, 1998.
• Internationaal Cultureel Centrum, Benni Efrat: Putney Bridge, 1976. Printed After A Film Projected on a Blackboard, Wiped and Scribbled on With White Chalk, New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, 1977.