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Tevet, Nahum

(b Kibbutz Mesilot, 4 June 1946). Israeli sculptor. He studied painting in Tel Aviv with Rafi Levi (b 1936). Visiting New York in 1973, he confronted the idioms of Minimalism, and devoted his time to creating site-specific sculptures. Back in Israel he started a period of activity with the series Tables (e.g. Arrangement of Six, wood, 1973–4; artist’s col., see 1991 exh. cat., p. 23), in which he placed ‘furniture’ and images in specific sites. This theme developed the problems of perception into the relationship of the sculpture within architectural space, his kibbutz utilitarianism of bare essentials generating inductive thinking. His painting background reintegrated itself into his next sculpture series, Narcissus (e.g. 1980; Jerusalem, Israel Mus.; 1982; Tel Aviv, Mus. A.), in which long bars of wood were interconnected, giving the impression of line-drawings in space. In 1984 he reintroduced colour into his work with a sculptural series entitled Boat, Bridge and Yellow Chair (1974; Tel Aviv, Mus. A.). He then developed new themes that appear at first sight to be ‘bricolage’, but that were meticulously planned and executed, reintegrating the original elements of the tables and chairs of his Minimalist period. The Painting Lessons series began in 1984 with floor pieces entitled Ursa Major (artist’s col., see 1991 exh. cat., p. 33), which indicated the influence of planetary forms, together with smaller pieces and wall elements that are based on the use of tables, chairs and boxes with colour. The forms are as perceived and understood by the spectator through the objet trouvé. In 1980 Tevet started to teach at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem.

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  Reproduced by kind permission of Macmillan Publishers Limited, publishers of The Grove Dictionary of Art.
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