Yeshayahu Sheinfeld

Yeshayau Sheinfeld (Scheinfeld) (; 1909–1979) was an Israeli painter and industrialist.

Early life and work Sheinfeld was born in Bessarabia and in 1929 he emigrated to Mandate Palestine. He first resided in Magdiel, then in 1941 relocated to Petach Tikva where he found employment as a stonecutter and a road worker. In 1947, he established his own stonecutting factory which in time became one of the biggest quarries in Israel, producing thousands of tons of materials daily for the Israeli construction and road industry.

Painting career It was only in 1969 at age 60, that Scheinfeld first took up a paintbrush. In his first year, unwilling to reveal the need for self-expression, Scheinfeld worked surreptitiously in the early mornings or late nights - when no one was about.

Just a year later, in 1970, after a successful group exhibition in the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Scheinfeld was recognized as one of the striking artists on the local Naïve art scene. Although his usual subject matter was the scenery of the land of Israel, Scheinfeld introduced the landscape using a mosaic pattern, something that had become his unique artistic signature. While Scheinfeld's favorite media were tempera and ink on board, he also worked in various others including acrylic on canvas and board, etching with hand-painted colors, mixed-media collage and even weaving.

Between 1971 and 1975, Scheinfeld gained a wide international recognition and his artworks were exhibited not only in Israel, but also in Europe and in North and South America. In 1975, Scheinfeld's colorful pen-and-ink artwork ‘Aqueduct’ was featured in UNICEF’s New Year Round collection.

Although Scheinfeld had only a short ten-year career as an artist, in 2004 he was recognized by INSITA, the International Triennial congress of Naïve self-taught Art, as one of the four exceptional artists who played a major role in the international context of 20th century art.

Collections Petach-Tikva Museum of Art, Petach-Tikva, Israel The President's Residence, Jerusalem, Israel Stadshof Nijmegen, The Netherlands Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia Musee d’Art spontane, Bruxelles, Belgium Musea Oost-Vlaanderen in Evolutie (MovE) Gent, Belgium Museum of La Creation Franche Begles, France The Magnes Collection of Jewish art and life, Berkeley University of California, United States Gallery of International Naive Art (GINA), Tel Aviv, Israel

Exhibitions

1970 Yad-Lebanim Museum, Petach Tikva, Israel Tel-Aviv Museum of Art, Tel-Aviv, Israel

1971 Municipal Museum, Holon, Israel Israel-America Cultural Foundation, New York, USA The Union of American Hebrew Congregations, New York, USA Gallery La Boetle, New York, USA The Naive Art Gallery, New York, USA The Great Neck Library, New York, USA Traklin Gallery, Haifa, Israel Ben Yehuda Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel

1972 The Naïve Art Gallery, São Paulo, Brazil The Magnes Collection of Jewish art and life, Berkeley USA

1973 Queens County Art & Cultural Center, New York, USA Ile Mostra Internazionale dei Naifs Contemporanei, Lugano, Switzerland Great Neck Library, New York, USA Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel Yad-Lebanim Museum, Petach Tikva, Israel

1974 Gumprecht Gallery, Hamburg, Germany Regard Gallery, Lyon, France Ben Uri Museum, London, UK

1975 UNICEF's Year Round collection, The United Nations NY, USA Runhof Gallery, Düsseldorf, Germany France TV art expo (French public national TV), Paris, France Sara Bar Gallery, Los Angeles, USA

1976 Yad-Lebanim Museum, Petach Tikva, Israel

1977 Canada-Israel Cultural Foundation, Montreal, Canada The Museum of Modern Art, Haifa, Israel

1978 Delson Richter Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel

1980 Petach Tikva Museum of Art, "In memory of J. Scheinfeld", Petach Tikva, Israel

1984 Rein C G Galleries, Minneapolis, USA The Museum of Modern Art, Haifa, Israel

1987 Galerie de Oogappel, Haarlem, the Netherlands Galerie Hamer, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

1990 Galerie Hamer, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

2000 Galerie Hamer, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

2004 Galerie Hamer, "Yeshayahu Scheinfeld", Amsterdam, the Netherlands Galerie Hamer, "Naieven Outsiders", Amsterdam, the Netherlands Slovak National Gallery, INSITA 2004, Bratislava, Slovakia

2007 Petach Tikva Museum of Art, "Petting Corner", Petach Tikva, Israel Monart Art Museum, Ashdod, Israel Slovak National Gallery, INSITA 2007, Bratislava, Slovakia

2008 Petach Tikva Museum of Art, "Etchings, Scratches and Scars- Changing Representations of the Israeli Soldier", Petach Tikva, Israel , "Magic Arquitecture", Münster, Germany

2012 , "Visions Orientales Exposition d'Adib Fattal et Yeshayahu Scheinfeld", Brussels, Belgium

2014 Petach Tikva Museum of Art, "Sea, Sail & a Boat", Petach Tikva, Israel Petach Tikva Museum of Art, "Fracture", Petach Tikva, Israel

2015 Petach Tikva Museum of Art, "Urban Legend", Petach Tikva, Israel