Born 1891 Borispol, Ukraine; lives in Tel Aviv and Kibbutz Tsova. 1914 graduates from Academy of Arts. Kiev. 1923 emigrates to Palestine; watercolors Jerusalem where he lived and Safed. 1927 settles in Tel Aviv. 1927-29 studies and works in Paris. 1927-45 watercolor landscapes and still lives in free, dynamic brush strokes and delicate, lyrical color. 1947-48 dismissed as chairman of Association of Painters and Sculptors of Palestine; among founders and later leader of New Horizons group; great influence on younger artists. 1950s moves to total abstraction; largely responsible for Lyrical Abstraction, carefully composed and balanced paintings built in thick splashes of color, suffused with light. 1954-56 lives and works in Paris and Amsterdam. 1960 Israel Prize. 1967 Sandberg Prize.
