The Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art Collection «

The Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art Collection began with a collection of paintings that were mostly donated by Herzliya resident Eugene da Villa in the early 1960s, which was exhibited in the museum’s first location – an apartment on 15 Bar Ilan Street in the city. In 1975 the new museum building was inaugurated, which was combined with the Beit Yad Labanim military memorial building. In those years, the museum presented, alongside eighteenth- and nineteenth-century art works from the Da Villa collection, archaeological finds from the Apollonia site on the Herzliya shoreline. In 2000 the museum was separated from Beit Yad Labanim, and its collection became more focused on art. Currently, the museum’s collection – comprised of several sub-collections – includes over three thousand works.

In the 1980s, Yoav Dagon, then the museum’s director, placed special emphasis on stone and clay sculpture. The museum’s collection includes over two hundred sculptures collected over the years. In 2016 a sculpture by Yaakov Dorchin, 2011 Israel Prize in Plastic Arts Laureate – Blocked Well with Iron Casing and Turret (1993-1995) – was installed at the entrance to the museum, generously gifted by Talma and Eliezer Levin, who are members of the Friends of the Herzliya Museum Association.

Under the direction of Dalia Levin, from 1993 to 2013, the museum focused on Israeli and international contemporary art, particularly photography and video art. At the same time, the museum’s collection was expanded by several collections donated to it: the collections of Jacob Alkow, Osias Hofstatter, and Yona Fischer. In addition, many artists exhibited by the museum gifted their works to it over the years.

Dr. Aya Lurie, who has served as the museum’s director since 2014, has further developed the collection as a key part of the museum’s activity. In addition to its artistic value, she regards the display and exploration of the collection as an important means of forging ties between art and the community. “The museum,” she maintains, “must keep its finger to the pulse, always looking forward while allowing the past to resonate in the present.”

The Jacob Alkow Collection includes 43 works by Jewish artists, including Max Liebermann, Raphael Soyer, and Max Weber, as well as key works by important American artists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, such as Marsden Hartley, George Luks, Milton Avery, and William Trost Richards. It is an eclectic collection of art works in a variety of styles and mediums, as well as decorative art objects from East Asia. The Osias Hofstatter Collection includes the estate of this painter, known in Israel as an esteemed “Holocaust artist.” These works reveal him to be a gifted humanist who touches on the finest threads of human suffering, examining it only to transcending it by expressing universal emotions and notions. The Michael Adler Collection includes mainly works from the 1970s, completing a significant artistic chapter in the museum’s collection. It is comprised of works by established Israeli artists, such as Joseph Zaritsky, Avigdor Stematsky, Arie Aroch, and Michael Gross, as well as conceptual and post-minimalist Israeli artists, such as Benni Efrat, Pinchas Cohen-Gan, Nahum Tevet, Joshua Neustein, Avital Geva, and Zigi Ben-Haim. The Yona Fischer Collection, donated to the museum by Fischer himself, reflects the importance of his curatorial work over six decades, which to a great extent has defined the field in Israel. It is an expression of Fischer’s refined personal taste and curiosity. Works from the Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art Collection are constantly on view in its exhibitions, as well as on loan to museums in Israel and internationally.

The Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art Collection

Hofstatter, Osias (1905-1994)

Hofstatter, Osias (1905-1994)

Hofstatter, Osias (1905-1994)

Hofstatter, Osias (1905-1994)

Hofstatter, Osias (1905-1994)

Hofstatter, Osias (1905-1994)

Hofstatter, Osias (1905-1994)

Abramson, Larry (B. 1954)

Adika, David (b. 1970)

Agassi, Ronit (B. 1948)

Aroch, Arieh (1908-1974)

Aroch, Arieh (1908-1974)

Avrahami, Yochay (B. 1970)

Bar El, Ido (b. 1959)

Barak, Yair (b. 1973)

Barak, Yair (b. 1973)

Berest, Dganit (b. 1949)

Carucci, Elinor (b. 1971)

Chalfi, Miriam

Cooper, Roy (b. 1956)

Cooper, Roy (b. 1956)

Cooper, Roy (b. 1956)

David, Nurit (b. 1952)

Dijkstra, Rineke

Dorchin, Ya'acov (B. 1946)

Efrat, Benni (Reuven) (B. 1936)

Emil Aboud, Jumana (B. 1971)

Emil Aboud, Jumana (B. 1971)

Frank, Ana

Gechtman, Gideon (1942-2008)

Janco, Marcel ( 1895-1984)

Janco, Marcel ( 1895-1984)

Katzir, Ram (b. 1969)

Klein, Angela

Kremer, Shai

Landau, Sigalit (b. 1969)

Lavie, Raffi (1937-2007)

Liebermann, Max (1847-1935)

Meidner, Ludwig (1884-1966)

Miranda, Arik (b. 1972)

Moti & Gil

Neustein, Joshua (b. 1940)

Neustein, Joshua (b. 1940)

Nir, Ori (B. 1976)

Orloff, Chana (1888-1968)

Rosen, Roy (b. 1963)

Schlezinger, Shmuel (1896-1986)

Schlezinger, Shmuel (1896-1986)

Schlezinger, Shmuel (1896-1986)

Shibli, Ahlam (b. 1970)

Shibli, Ahlam (b. 1970)

Shibli, Ahlam (b. 1970)

Shochat, Tal (b. 1974)

Siman Tov, Orit (b. 1971)

Simon, Yohanan (1905-1976)

Tichy, Jan

Tichy, Jan

Uri, Aviva (1927-1989)

Uri, Aviva (1927-1989)

Zait Noa (b. 1967)

Zilberman, Shay (B. 1976)

Museum Collections

Jacob Alkow Collection (1902-1999)

Bernard Reder

Michael Adler Collection

Corona Diaries

Michael Argov Collection

Zeev Ben-Zvi Collection