David Rakia

Rakia was born in Vienna in 1928 and came to Israel at the age of ten. With the end of the War of Independence he began studying with the artist Ardon, and afterwards attended the "Bezalel" school. From l955-1960 he studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. His first showings, in a surrealistic symbolic style, were held at that time at the Musee d'art Modern in Paris, as well as in Switzerland. From his fellow artist he already won the title of "anthroposopher".

Upon his return to Israel in 1960, he began a series of drawings in which Hebrew letters played a central part. A year later an extensive individual exhibition of Rakia's work was held at the Tel Aviv Museum. Following the Six Day War, Jerusalem became a central theme in the artist's work. The city, as the essence of the national destiny was concretized both realistically and symbolically:  beside the archways, walls and plants, the letters had, from time to time, figurative and abstract shapes.

In the seventies a new spirit filled Rakia's work:  beside the previous world of shapes appear horses, in a range of hues and positions, accompanied by musical instruments. What- ever the forms and subjects may be, the reflection of light shining in the background is in all his works. Sometimes the light is green, blue or red; sometimes it is concentrated in a circle, or it appears diffuse.

Rosenquist received numerous honors, including selection as "Art In America Young Talent USA" in 1963, appointment to a six-year term on the Board of the National Council of the Arts in 1978, and receiving the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement in 1988. In 2002, the Fundación Cristóbal Gabarrón conferred upon him its annual international award for art, in recognition of his contributions to universal culture. Beginning with his first early-career retrospectives in 1972 organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, and the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne, Rosenquist's work was the subject of several gallery and museum exhibitions, both in the United States and abroad. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum organized a full-career retrospective in 2003, which traveled internationally, and was organized by curators Walter Hopps and Sarah Bancroft.

Art Work:

• TBD