Bella Brzel

Bella Brisel (; 23 August 1929 – 1 November 1982) was an Israeli painter and graphic artist. Her art is characterized by expressive, atmospheric compositions that blend figurative and abstract elements. Her works often feature delicate yet dynamic forms, evoking a sense of movement and emotion through subtle color harmonies and layered textures.

Biography Bella Brisel was born in Tiberias into a Jewish ultra-Orthodox family from the Old Yishuv. In 1944 the family moved to Jerusalem where she studied at the Bet Yaakov Seminary. In 1946, after attending her first art exhibition, she decided to become an artist and moved to Tel Aviv alone. There, she studied painting under Avigdor Stematsky and Yehezkel Streichman at their Studia Art School, where she also took lessons with Marcel Janco.

In 1954, a book of religious poems by Judah Halevi, Chants mystiques/Adaptés par Bruno Durocher, illustrated with 12 lithographs by Brisel, was published in Paris.

In 1980 Sioma Baram died in Formentera. Brisel moved to Tel Aviv in 1981 where she produced a book on Baram's oeuvre. She died in 1982 and was buried on the Mount of Olives Jewish Cemetery in Jerusalem.

In 1988, the Baram-Brisel Gallery was established in their names in Formentera and remained active until the early 1990s.

Artistic style Brisel's artistic development can be divided into three distinct periods, each marking a unique evolution in style and expression.

Brisel's paintings from the early 1950s are deeply infused with the spiritual heritage of the Jewish people and the religious traditions of her childhood. They are rich with symbols and motifs drawn from Jewish mysticism, Christianity, and Byzantine art – mythological themes that reflect the Christian visual culture surrounding her in Paris. The compositions are typically circular or symmetrical, featuring feminine figures alongside animals and celestial objects. These scenes depict a paradisiacal sexuality that existed before the Fall, separating Eve from nature and humans from their essence.

In the late 1950s and 1960s, Brisel's work underwent significant development following the couple's move to Formentera. During this period of consolidation and contraction, her paintings increasingly abandoned the symbolic motifs, animals, and landscapes that had previously defined her style. Instead, her canvases focused on figures engaged in dynamic relationships of dependency and protection.

A fluent visual language developed between the mid-1960s and Brisel's death in 1982. The circular movement that characterized her early paintings reemerged, while the gradual move away from mythology and traditional meanings paved the way for more introspective expressions.

Exhibitions Brisel's works appeared in numerous solo and group exhibitions worldwide; a selection is listed below. Selected Solo Exhibitions 1951 La Maison des Beaux-Arts, Paris 1952 Galerie Creuze, Paris 1954 Galerie Breteau, Paris 1956 Tel Aviv Museum at Dizengoff House 1959 Kaplan Gallery, London 1961 Galerie M. Bernheim, Paris 1963 Iida Gallery, Tokyo 1963 Silman Gallery, New York 1965 Ewan Phillip Gallery, London 1965 Galerie Formentera (with Sioma Baram) 1966 Jean Tiroche Gallery, Jaffa 1969 Tel Aviv Museum at the Helena Rubinstein Pavilion 1970 Ramat Gan Museum at Beit Emanuel 1973 Talma Gallery, Tel Aviv 1977 Institute of Modern Art, Bangkok 1991 Yad LeBanim Museum, Petach Tikva (with Sioma Baram) 2014 Artists' House, Tel Aviv 2025 "Bella Brisel: Waters from Waters," Tel Aviv Museum of Art

Selected Group Exhibitions 1948 "Young Artists," Tel Aviv 1952 Young Painters' Salon, Paris 1952 Autumn Salon, Paris 1953 Paris Salon of Foreign Artists in France, Paris 1954 Exhibition of winners of the Art Critics Prize, Paris 1955 Exhibition of Israeli Artists in Paris, Galerie Zack, Paris 1955 Autumn Salon, Tokyo 1960 "Israeli Art Today," Paris 1971 "Israeli Art: Painting, Sculpture, Graphics," Tel Aviv Museum 2022 "Material Imagination," Tel Aviv Museum of Art