The Menachem Begin Heritage Center is happy to announce a new temporary exhibition: Menachem Begin: 22 Portraits by Rita Zimmerman. The exhibition will run from November 7 through the 21. This will be the first opportunity for the public to view this entire series of the artist’s work. A reception for the artist will take place on November 11.

When the Israeli artist Rita Zimmerman completed her first painting of Menachem Begin, she had no idea that she would continue to paint the former Prime Minister of Israel for the next seven years.  “I hadn’t planned a series,” Zimmerman recently stated from her studio in Zichron Yaacov, Israel.  “But it wasn’t long before I realized that each painting I finished was just a study for the next.  And when I exhibited the paintings in my studio as a group the response was overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic.  Several paintings have already entered private collections.”

Menachem Begin is best known for his crowning achievement: the Camp David accords and their promise of peace between Egypt and Israel.  Considered one of Israel’s most beloved and controversial Prime Ministers, the writer Amos Perlmutter described him as “shrouded in complexity and clashing tendencies….No one, whether Jew or Gentile, has managed to remain indifferent to him.”

Moving to Israel in 2012, the American-born Zimmerman recalls reading a stack of books devoted to Israel’s history and finding inspiration in a personality not easily defined or portrayed.  When asked what initially attracted her to a man who excites so much emotion and passion, Zimmerman’s response is immediate: “his fearlessness when facing danger, the immense suffering he endured throughout his life, the courage he showed time and again while fighting for the Jewish people.  All of this fascinated me.”

“I wasn’t interested in executing a simple likeness,” Zimmerman continues.  “I wanted to delve deeper into a remarkable man with a remarkable personality.  My intent was always to paint something that was animated with different aspects of his personality.  I wanted to reveal not just the suffering of the man but also his sense of humor—not just Begin as statesman but Begin as father and husband.”

The extraordinary size of her series and even the expressiveness of the work have surprised  many, including Zimmerman herself.  “I never know where a painting will take me,” she states.  “I have no formula.  That was particularly true of these paintings.” 

When asked if she has finished the series, she confides: “I’ve been working on these paintings over the course of 7 years.  During that time I could start on any subject and suddenly find myself painting Menachem Begin.  So, am I finished?  No, I will always paint Menachem Begin.”

For further information
PHONE:  972-585067891
EMAIL:  Ritazimmerman4@gmail.com
WEBSITE: www.ritazimmerman.com