Leopold Krakauer - Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit

Curator: Dani Dothan

1 1Born in Vienna, Leopold Krakauer immigrated to Palestine in 1924. Here, in 1925, he worked under architect Alexander Baerwald in Haifa. Krakauer was a pivotal figure in local modern architecture, and is best known for the unique public buildings and private homes that he designed. Among these are the Teltsch Hotel in Haifa, the Bonem residence in Jerusalem, and the Kibbutz Tel Yosef dining hall. In the art world, Krakauer is most renowned for his drawings of trees,

thistels, and the Judean hills. Krakauer developed a personal artistic style that makes his work immediately recognizable. He utilized rapid up and down movements and short strokes to create views of immense depth, filled with light and darkness. While his strokes and lines may sometimes appear to be random, a holistic look at the finished product reveals that Krakauer left nothing to chance in his artwork. This exhibition is curated by Krakauer's grandson, Dani Dothan. It focuses on the less familiar facet of Krakauer's work: his portrayal of the human form. These pieces were created in Jerusalem between 1928 and 1948, and survived in the family collection. Many have never before been featured in previous exhibitions. The works were created on paper with chalk and charcoal, and largely transcend school and period trends.   

Meira Perry divides Krakauer's human portrayals in to two distinct types: 

"One is the anonymous type whose alien and remote aspect seem to have struck the artist as an integral portrayal of the unfamiliar landscape in which he now found himself. The other, the Jesus/Tree group, suggests that the passion of Christ is evoked to symbolize the torment of the Jewish people while the act of crawling refers to its efforts to survive."

(M. Perry-Lehmann and M. Levin [eds.], Leopald Krakauer: Painter and Architect 1890-1954, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1996, pp. 60-3).

 

We would like to thank Dani Dothan, the exhibition curator, as well as archaeologist Prof. Trude Dothan, daughter of Leopold Krakauer and mother of Dani Dothan, for lending us the majority of works on display. The Gordon Gallery, Tel Aviv, also lent us works from their collection, and we equally grateful.


To Exhibition Catalogue Leopold Krakauer (2005)