#9 Cubism, Menachem Helholz-Or “Venus dancer”, circa 1950s

#9 Cubism, Menachem Helholz-Or “Venus dancer”, circa 1950s
Reserve price: $6,000; #9 Cubism, Menachem Helholz-Or “Venus dancer”, circa 1950s; “Abstract Dancer” Oil on canvas: 64 x 54 cm; High quality wooden frame, made in UK: 76.5 cm x 65 cm; Just cost of the frame was 200 GBP. Certified by Alon Zacaim, London, UK; Menachem Helholz-Or is a visual artist. Many works by the artist have been sold at auction, including 'A cubist fragmentation' sold at Bonham’s, New Bond Street: 'Impressionist and Modern Art' in 2009 for $7,451. On Sotheby’s his paintings were sold $8,000 and more. Biography Menachem Helholz-Or was born in Germany in 1911. Although his training was never formal, he was exposed to the influence of various German Artists of the Expressionist and Bauhaus Movements whilst in his youth, most notably Franz Marc, Heinrich Campendonk, Paul Klee and Auguste Macke. His later work shows the influence of several of these artists especially in his fusing together of Cubism and vivid Expressionist colour. In 1933, when Hitler came to power, Helholz-Or fled from Germany and settled in Palestine, where from 1937, after initial hardships, he was able to devote himself to his painting. His favored subjects include figurative scenes, marine life and schematic cities, some of which are based on Jerusalem, Jaffa and also memories of German cities and railway bridges, reminiscent of motifs used by Max Beckmann. He stood out in the nascent Israeli art scene because of his adherence to avant-garde rather than nostalgic forms. Helholz -Or also experimented with the prismatic effects of light, and like many other German artists of the period, his work fluctuated between an Expressionist version of Orphism (under the influence of the Delaunays) and Cubism. His townscapes and still lives owe much to Paul Klee, particularly his creation of "all-over" formal poetic patterning. In 1977 the artist was awarded a prize from the National Museum of Monaco.