Lot 173: Israel Hershberg (Israeli, born 1948) Jerusalem, City Center, 1989-90

Jerusalem, City Center, 1989-90
signed and dated 'Hershberg 1989-90' (lower right); bears exhibition label (verso)
oil on canvas
105.5 x 126cm (41 9/16 x 49 5/8in).

PROVENANCE:
A private collection
With Marlborough Gallery, London

Haim Gliksberg (1904-1970) painted three versions of King George Street in 1926-1927. Gliksberg used a street level perspective looking to the north and depicted the houses in a semi-cubist style.

Israel Hershberg studied the same view for almost a year, observing from the 11th floor of the City Tower each day at midday with the sun at its zenith, and has created a south-easterly view of the same street but with a completely different approach. Very much in the same manner as his American Superrealistic teachers Edwin Dickenson, Francis Cunningham and Lennart Anderson, he has produced a meticulous and detailed observation of reality. "I only paint what I see, and I paint the visible world" said Hershberg in an interview in 2002. "Art is the representation of observation of the artist" he added later.

In the painting Hershberg confronts the enormous challenge of presenting aerial depth whilst also focusing on the complicated urban scenery of King George Street. Depicted in the foreground are the British buildings which fade down the road, leading to the Talpiot Hills and Moab mountains on the horizon.
Like Zarizky in the 1930s, Hershberg is observing the Jerusalem of the below, the secular Jerusalem. He has purified the street from any figure, car or movement. The result of his daily observations leads to focusing only on the constant rather than the variable. The viewer is left with an amazing static image of King George Street. The strong afternoon light unveils a unified grey light which absorbs all the colours as if the heaven and earth have been united without a hint of sentimentality to create a single entity. Jerusalem has been transformed from one of the most emotional places into a greyish still life, a pure study of an uncompromising eye and a hand that knows to translate sensory reception with objectivity into presentation on canvas.