Drawings in black and white of Jerusalem and the Holy Land by Moshe Kaufman

The artist
Moshe Kaufman is a painter and retired architect. His formative years were spent in Jerusalem where he first took in and absorbed Jerusalem’s urban landscapes. During his student years in Haifa he enjoyed many trips to the mountains of the Carmel and the Galilee.
In 1949 he was appointed the town-planner of the future City of Eilat, a job that required numerous tours in that part of the country and close contacts with the mountainous desert views of the Negev and the Aravah.
After many busy years as an architect, he retired in 1987. During all these years, parallel to his formal occupation, he painted frequently.
His first one man show was in Tel-aviv in 1978. Surprisingly, all the 40 exhibited paintings were sold during that same opening evening. In the following years the paintings and drawings of Moshe Kaufman were exhibited in several successful one man shows in Israel, Florida and New York.
Kaufman lives in Tel-aviv but spends his week-ends at the picturesque village of Zichron-Ya’acov where he can pay tribute to the art of painting at his summer-house
from where he enjoys the views of the Mediteranian-sea towards the west and the Mount of Carmel towards the north.

His work
“…with only pen and ink on paper he paints the simple country scenes and make them rise off the page as from the page of the Old Testament. A desert tree, with a few bushes and a hill behind them is the stuff with which Moshe Kaufman can make magic.” (B. P. Poroner “Artspeak” New York).

“…His drawings consist of mysticism and imagination combined with realism.His expressive landscapes reveal a concealed force of the artist as well as his inner truth
that characterizes him…….He does not copy nature in a realistic style. He rather adopts the impessionist tinge with a personal touch…”
“…His detailed and pleasing graphic accounts of the majestic peaks of the Negev and Sinai or the historic surroundings of Jerusalem, are a serious artist’s response to the moving and difficult challenge of nature and history in the Land of Israel.”
S. P. Heideeker. (“ World of Art” Tel-aviv)