Mordecai Ardon

Beginning in the 1950s Ardon adopted a complex system of symbolic images in his paintings, taken from the Jewish Mystical tradition (Kabbalah), from the Bible and from a tangible reality.[5] "Bird near a yellow wall" (1950) demonstrates his simplistic involvement with the Holocaust, a subject to which he was one of the few Israeli artists to devote a phase of his work, at that time.As a teacher and director of the "New Bezalel", Ardon conveyed his sense of social involvement, his tendency towards Jewish mysticism and local mythology, and the combination of personal national symbols with reality-always stressing masterful technique.Pupils such as Avigdor Arikha, Yehuda Bacon, Naftali Bezem, Shraga Weil, Shmuel Boneh, and Bernat Klein absorbed these influences and integrated them into their later work.One of his most famous creations are the "Isaiah’s Vision of Eternal Peace" (1980–1984), a set of large stained-glass windows displayed prominently in the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem,[2] incorporating visual elements from the Kabbalah.
Girl, 1950
Stained glass windows, National Library of Israel , Jerusalem
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