Batia Lishansky

Batia Lishansky, also Batya, Batyah; Lichanski, Lishanski, (; 1900–1992) was a Russian-born pioneering Israeli sculptor. Working with stone, wood and bronze, she created portraits and memorials commemorating the people and events of the early years of the State of Israel. Her many busts portray cultural and political figures as well as members of her family while her monumental memorials are dedicated to those who were killed in the War of Independence. Many of her works can be seen in the permanent exhibition at the Shomer Museum in Kfar Giladi.

Biography Born in Malyn, Russian Empire, in 1900, Batia Lishansky was the youngest of the four daughters of Shoshanna (1865–1944) and Meir Yonah Lishansky (1862–1942). Her older sisters were Rachel Lishansky, an author and educator who would become the wife of the second President of Israel, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi; Tamar Lishansky, a doctor; and Sarah Lishansky, founder of the first clinic of Clalit Health Services.

After immigrating to Palestine with her mother in 1910, she studied for a year at the Bezalel Institute under Boris Schatz. She then spent a period at the Rome Academy of Fine Arts but returned to Palestine in 1921, settling at the Ein Harod kibbutz and exhibiting her early wood sculptures. In 1923, she went to Berlin where she studied for three years before spending a further three years at the Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris. She returned to Palestine in 1929.

Batia Lishansky died in Tel Aviv in 1992.