In the Beginning There Was, oil on canvas signed lr

Following his father"s death in 1932, Bezalel left Israel for a period of about two decades. He spent the first four years studying at the Grand Chaumiere Academy in Paris. There, given the fairly conservative artistic views he had acquired at home and school, where modernism was denounced. He had to pave his own way as an artist among his peers. Between 1937 and 1951, Bezalel resided in the U.S. Near the end of WWII, he worked in a California shipyard, and met his future wife, Louise, there. Became close friends with Henry Miller in California; their friendship blossomed into a creative collaboration.

Dimensions: H. 28 1/4 in. W. 16 in.