ILLUSTRATED BIOGRAPHY
1948
Born in Hadera, Israel, to Abba and Vitka Kovner. Raised on Kibbutz (collective settlement) Ein-HaChoresh.
1954-1966
Elementary and Secondary Education on Kibbutz Ein-HaChoresh.
1955
Accompanies Vitka, his mother, on a trip to Europe to meet his father who was absent from Israel for a year. A seven year old boy discovers the world of art.
1958
A birthday gift of oil paints and an art lesson from his father jump starts an artistic career.
1964-1965
Studies painting with artist Yochanan Simon in Herzliya (a coastal town north of Tel-Aviv).
1966-1967
Following High School graduation, works with youth groups outside the Kibbutz, in Haifa.
1967
During the Six-Day War (June 1967) returns to the Kibbutz to take charge, with fellow Kibbutz youth, of all agricultural work while most of the Kibbutz adults are mobilized for the war.
1967-1970
Military service in an elite army unit.
1970
Meets Mimi Makover, his future bride.
1970
Following military service travels to the USA with army buddies. Following a visit with family friends in Los Angeles, California, makes a crucial decision to pursue art as a vocation and to take up his studies in New York rather than in Israel.
In the photo: right: Benjamin Nethanyahu
1975
Returns with Mimi to Israel (via Spain, Southern France, and Italy, where he encounters the greatest painters of the Renaissance)
- Receives a clear decision about his artistic direction: abstract painting was a dead end. That begins a period of uncertainty that lasts three years, during which he seeks his independent path as an artist.
– Mounts first exhibition of his New York works at the Jerusalem Artists’ House.
– Joins Bezalel Academy of Art and Design as an art instructor, and the American-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarship committee.
1971
Works as a security guard for Arkia Airlines while studying in evening classes at the Avni Institute.
1972-1975
Studies at the New York Studio School. Influenced by the teachings of Philip Guston, Jack Tworkow and Mercedes Mattar.
1973
Returns to Israel for the Yom Kippur War (October-December 1973).
1974
Despite the terrible loss of many friends during the war, comes to the painful decision to return to his studies at the New York Studio School, and with other advanced students under the guidance of a talented young painter, Steven Sloman, forms a group that works independently, often in the countryside or at the seashore, critiquing each other’s work.
1977
- First child is born – a son, Amikam.
- Studies Judaism with Rabbi David Hartman at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.
1976
Marries Mimi Makover. Jointly decide to make Jerusalem their permanent home.
1981
– A second son is born, named Nimrod.
– Bineth Gallery exhibits a new series, “Houses in Gaza”.
– Exhibits in the Tel-Aviv Museum group show “ ”.
– The Israel Museum in Jerusalem acquires a painting “House Painted with Flowers” for its collection.
1978-1980
Explores new artistic directions with a series of bird’s-eye-view landscapes painted from aerial photographs, and desert vistas painted in the outdoors. Begins his relationship with the Bineth Gallery in Tel-Aviv. Mounts two successful shows at the Gallery – desert paintings and an exhibition of drawings.
1985
Returns to Bineth Gallery in Tel-Aviv with an exhibition of his portraits of wife Mimi and friend Michal.
1982-1984
Inspired by his two sons playing with the Lego building blocks, exhibits his “Lego” series at Tel-Aviv’s Gordon Gallery. Bineth Gallery refuses the Lego series and terminates its relation with Kovner.
1988
Exhibits at Bineth Gallery his series “Jerusalem Hills”. First major initiative of painting directly in nature.
1990
– Exhibits at Bineth Gallery his follow-up series “Jerusalem Scenes”.
– Acquires a small two-room apartment in the Katamonim section of Jerusalem for a permanent studio space.
1986
Expands from his tiny studio in family residence into a more spacious work area in Jerusalem’s north eastern neighborhood of Pisgat Zeev.
1994
Returns to landscape painting. Develops close friendship with artist Jan Rauchwerger. Touring together in Romania along with sculptor Zvi Lachman. Continues with Jan to London and then to Holland to view the Cezanne and Vermeer exhibits.
1992
Exhibits at Bineth Gallery “A Girl in a Room”, painting his son’s young adolescent girl-friend.
1995
Bineth Gallery mounts an exhibition “End of ’95”, an exploration of the Beit Shean Valley – its reservoirs, fishponds, birds and cows.
Publishes a large catalogue of works, 1985-1995.
1987-1994
During this period is strongly effected by several family related tragedies, including the death of his father, poet Abba Kovner. He is thus preoccupied with death, which is fully explored in a series of paintings titled “Sataf” that have never been exhibited.
To be continued...
