Pear at the Landscape,

Oil on canvas, 81x60 cm,

Signed.

Collection of Greda and Joseph Brender

Gerda and Joseph Brender were among the leading figures in the world of art, philanthropy, and the Jewish community in Australia in the second half of the 20th century. The couple, based in Sydney, combined exceptional business success with a deep commitment to culture, education, and Jewish historical memory.

Gerda Brender carried with her an extraordinary story of survival and renewal. In her childhood, her family fled from Vienna to Shanghai, one of the few places that took in Jewish refugees during the Second World War. Many years later, she received international attention when her wartime passport which had been lost in Shanghai, was recovered and returned to her in a moving ceremony in the city. The story became a symbol of memory, identity, and Jewish continuity. Joseph Brender arrived in Australia in the 1950s after his military service in Israel, and together with Gerda he built one of the largest textile and fashion empires in Australia, establishing their position as central supporters of the country's leading cultural institutions and of the Jewish community in particular.

In the 1980s, the couple were among the figures who helped make Australian art more accessible and more highly valued by the general public. Through their fashion company, Katies, they initiated significant sponsorships of Australia's most important art prizes and donated substantial sums to Jewish institutions in Australia as well as to academic and cultural institutions in Israel.

Alongside their public activity, the Brenders built over decades an exceptional art collection of unusual quality and scope, reflecting refined taste and deep connoisseurship. Alongside masterworks of modern Australian art by Arthur Boyd, Sidney Nolan, and Russell Drysdale, the collection also included a rare and important group of Jewish and Israeli art. Among other works, the couple held important and central pieces by Reuven Rubin, Nachum Gutman, Yosl Bergner, Mordecai Ardon, and Moïse Kisling. Artists who are considered pillars of 20th-century Jewish and Israeli art. The works were carefully chosen over many years and reflected a deep affinity with Jewish culture, Zionist identity, and the tradition of modern European art. The collection, held in Sydney and Tel Aviv, is exceptional in its quality and is considered one of the finest collections of Israeli art in the world.

Masterpieces from this important collection have already been sold at Tiroche over the past year, including masterworks by Reuven Rubin (Balfour Street, 1924), Nachum Gutman's The Jewish Synagogue in Hebron (1927), and others, generating impressive interest among collectors- testifying to the high quality of the collection. Carmela Rubin of Beit Reuven, who knew Joseph Brender's collection well and was acquainted with its owner, told us in particular about his passion for art, which more than compensated for his lack of formal training in the field: "Guided by his eye and intuition, he discerned masterful works that brought profound enrichment to his life."

Together, Joseph and Gerda Brender represented a generation of collectors and philanthropists who saw in art not only an investment or a mark of prestige, but a cultural and public mission. Their ongoing contribution to the Australian and Israeli art worlds, alongside their involvement in the Jewish community and in educational and cultural institutions, left a significant mark that is still evident today.

�