Silver medals only for five Israeli illustrators

No fewer than 173 books by 111 illustrators, published by 43 different houses, were submitted in the Israel Museum's annual competition for the Ben-Yitzhak illustration award.

By MEIR RONNEN
amit art 88 298 (photo credit: )
amit art 88 298
(photo credit: )
No fewer than 173 books by 111 illustrators, published by 43 different houses, were submitted in the Israel Museum's annual competition for the Ben-Yitzhak illustration award. This year's panel of jurors (Nurit Shilo-Cohen, Michel Kichka, Yigal Zalmona and Rachel Elior) did not award a Gold Medal. But Honorable Mentions (Silver Medals) were awarded to Gilad Soffer (O Brother, Am Oved); Rutu Modan (Who Drank My Juice?, Sifriat Hapoalim); Natalie Pudalov (Zevuva Zamzuma, Keter); Ofra Amit (The Hens and the Fox, Zivlin Books); and Gil-ly Alon Curiel (Behind the Peaches Curtain, Hakibbutz Hameuhad). Topping estimates at Tiroche Part One of the giant sale at Tiroche of Herzliya this month produced a turnover of $1.1m., with 70 percent of the lots selling, not bad considering that there were no blockbusters. Part Two of the sale of another 450 lesser lots brought an additional $127,000. The Vilmos Perlrott-Csaba, A Bridge in Paris (which brought many bids from Eastern Europe), soared to nearly nine times its estimate to top the sale at $52,900. Reuven Rubin's Vase of Flowers (est. $25,000-$30,000) went for $39,100. A trite but historic relief by Boris Schatz, The Shofar Blower ($4,000-$6,000), sold for $14,950. Exile, attributed to Shmuel Hirschenberg, sold for $25,300 and the Zvi Malnovizer, Lag Ba'omer in Mount Meron, went beyond its best estimate at $19,550. The unusual Reuven Rubin watercolor Flowers and Chess Board set a record for the painter's work on paper, doubling its lower estimate at a fine $29,900. Also topping their rosiest estimates were Chana Orloff's Nue dans Un Fauteuil, which sold for $21,850; Jean-Pierre Cassigneul's Woman with Hat, which doubled its estimate at $13,225; and Lea Nikel's abstract, which rose to $20,700. All of the results can be viewed on the Tiroche Web site.