Mordecai Ardon

Marlborough Fine Art Ltd., London

London, Marlborough Fine Art, Mordecai Ardon, 1973, no. 16, illustrated in black and white in the exhibition catalogue

Michele Vishny, Mordecai Ardon, New York, 1974, no. 241, listed p. 232, pl. 165, illustrated in black and white

Oil on canvas, not lined. This work is in overall excellent condition with rich, deep colors. There is a small scuff on the upper half of the right edge of the work next to a two centemeter abrasion to the very edge of the canvas. The work has been examined under UV light and shows no signs of repairs.
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Landscapes of the land of Israel constitute a central subject in Ardon’s oeuvre throughout his career and Yellow Negev is a magnificent example of his almost abstract, metaphysical landscapes.

Arturo Schwarz pointed out Ardon’s total involvement in his landscape paintings as can be gauged by the following advice he gave to his student, Azaryahu: “One cannot simply paint the hills of Jerusalem. Neither this hill nor any other. First, Azaryahu, fold all the land of Israel and place it at the head-rest of your soul, and then paint – and maybe then you will succeed in painting this landscape”. Mordecai Ardon, “Ha Oman Veha-Adamah” in Kamah: Yearbook of the Jewish National Fund, 1949, pp. 392-98. Schwarz notes that “Ardon’s advice to Azaryahu developed into the highly thoughtful essay of 1949, in which Ardon underscored the mystical aura that the land of Israel emanated, and expressed the belief that an artist, to be able to render its metaphysical qualities, should take almost physical possession of his model”. (Arturo Schwarz, Mordecai Ardon, The Colors of Time, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2003, p.22.)

In painting his landscapes, Ardon explained that he had strived “to render the light not only externally – impressionistically – but also internally, to convey the awe-inspiring primeval nature of the land." This need for expression required both meditation and concentration, which could be exercised only by working in the silence and solitude of this studio. This accounts for the fact that the artist soon gave up painting outdoors. (Ziva Amishai-Maisels, Where Art Meets Present: The Art of Ardon. Introduction to the exhibition catalogue Ardon, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 1985.)

As Ardon himself described, “I usually bring some stones from the Negev and leave them in my studio. Sometimes, months later, I look at the stone, and realize that there is the Negev. I lay the colors on the canvas as I see them on the stone, and I succeed if I manage to breathe life into it”. (Ora Ardon, Excerpts from an unpublished conversation with Mordecai Ardon. Tape transcription translated by Ora Ardon, 13 typed pages ca. 1988.)