MICHAEL GROSS

Michael Gross was born in 1920 in Tiberias in British administered Palestine . He studied at the Teachers’ Training College in Jerusalem and from 1943 to 1945, he studied architecture at the Israel Institute of Technology (Technion) in Haifa. From 1951 to 1954, he studied art at the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris.  
He returned to Israel in 1954 and settled in the artists’ village of Ein Hod
Gross' works are imbued with light and spirit. They are minimalist, but never pure abstraction, always tied to natural form and laden with feeling. In his early paintings, Gross simplified form in order to concentrate on proportion, broad areas of color, and the size and placement of each element.
This reductive process was also notable in his sculptures, whether in painted iron or other materials such as white concrete. In later paintings, he often juxtaposed large off-white panels with patches of tone, adding textured materials such as wooden beams, burlap and rope. Gross’ rough, freely-brushed surfaces, along with the use of soft pastel coloring, conjure up images of the Israeli landscape.

Awards:

1964: the Herman Struck Prize
1967: the Dizengoff Prize
1977: the Sandberg Prize for an Israeli Artist, Israel Museum
1971: the Gold Medal, São Paulo Art Biennial
1987: the Minister of Education and Culture Prize for Painting and Sculpture
2000: the Israel Prize for painting and sculpture.