Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Iconic Israeli Artist Menashe Kadishman Dies at 82

Iconic Israeli artist, Menashe Kadishman, at Tel ha’Shomer hospital.

A sheep herder in his youth, he was most famous for his paintings of sheep. Of his obsession with sheep he said: “The sheep is a secular icon, that, in my eyes, is metaphorically connected to soldiers who died in wars.”

Kadishman is also known for his installation, ‘Fallen Leaves’, at the Jewish Museum in Berlin, which is composed of a thousand metal faces that visitors of the museum can walk on.

Kadishman's 'Fallen Leaves' Image by Getty Images

Kadishman graduated from St. Martins College of Art. In the 60s, he was affiliated with Warhol and Rauschenberg and was renowned in the international art scene. In 1968, he was Israel’s representative at the Venice Biennale, where he brought a herd of sheep, painted spots on them, and became a sheep herder for the installation.

Kadishman’s sculptures can be seen all across Israel and the world. His most famous one is ‘Uprise’, in HaBima Square, Tel Aviv. In 1995 he was awarded an Israel Prize for his sculptures.

He is survived by a son and a daughter.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at editorial@forward.com, subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.

Exit mobile version