Hava Mehutan
Biographical Notes
Hava Mehutan was born in 1925 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she studied art at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. In 1944 she married Asher Fischman, and in 1946 immigrated to Israel and was among the founders of Kibbutz Hatzor, where her son Daniel was born. In 1950 she moved to Beersheba, where her son Shlomi and her daughter Lea were born. Mehutan moved to Jerusalem in 1985, and since 1997 has resided in Karmiel.
Public Appointments
1963-1984 Headed the Negev Museum of Art
1968-1979 Served as art advisor to the Mayor of Beersheba. In this capacity she established the Center of Visual Art and the Youth Arts Center in Beersheba.
1970-1975 Member of the Israeli Council for Culture and Art
1975-1992 Member of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev’s Art Council
1985-1992 Member of the Tel Aviv Foundation for Literature and Art
1989-1992 Member of the Israel Prize Arts Committee
Teaching Positions
1974-1978 Critiqued final projects by students at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem
1976 Taught environmental art as a guest lecturer at the Ein Hod Art School
1981-1982, 1987 1976 Taught environmental art as a guest lecturer at the University of Haifa
1978-1979, 1981 Guest lecturer in sculpture workshops in several art colleges in the USA
1985 Resident artist at Mishkenot Sha’ananim, Jerusalem
1987 Resident artist at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Virginia, USA
1990 Taught drawing at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
1998-89 Taught sculpture at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem
1997 Resident artist at the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris
Selected One-Person Shows
1955 Sculptures and Drawings, Mikra Studio, Tel Aviv
1959 Sculptures, Helena Rubinstein Pavilion for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv Museum
1968 Processions and Offerings, Old Jaffa Gallery, Tel Aviv
Offering, the Negev Museum of Art, Beersheba
1972 Sculptures, Schwarz House, Herzliya
1977 Landscapes and Signals, Gordon Gallery, Tel Aviv
Landscapes and Signals, Liraz Gallery, Beersheba
Landscapes and Signals, Mitzpeh Ramon Gallery, Mitzpeh Ramon
1978 Sculptures, Screen Prints, Collages, Center of Visual Art, Beersheba
1978-1979 Landscapes of the Negev, traveling exhibition in the USA: YM-YWHA Gallery, Philadelphia; Keystone College, Pennsylvania; Erica Williams/Anne Johnson Gallery, Seattle, Washington; The Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts; Jack Rasmussen Gallery, Washington, DC
1980 Lackawanna Valley, Haifa Museum of Art, Haifa
1981 Lackawanna, traveling exhibition in the USA: Everhart Museum, Scranton, Pennsylvania; Bloomsburg State University Gallery, Pennsylvania; Marian Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Jack Rasmussen Gallery, Washington, DC
Lackawanna II, America-Israel Cultural Center, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem; Wilfrid Israel Museum, Kibbutz HaZore’a
1983 Birth, Center of Visual Art, Beersheba
Paper River, the Jerusalem Theater, Jerusalem
1984 New Works, Avraham Baron University Gallery, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba
1986 Situation 86, Mishkenot Sha’ananim Gallery, Jerusalem
1987 Situation 87, Ika Brown Artists’ Studios Gallery, Jerusalem
1989 Situation 88, Herzliya Museum
Works, Beersheba Museum of Israeli Art, Beersheba
1990 Works on Paper, Wilfrid Israel Museum, Kibbutz HaZore’a
1996 Bronze, New Artists’ Quarter Gallery, Kiryat Tivon
Bronze, Performing Arts Center, Tel Aviv
2000 Heavenly Ladder, Municipality Building, Karmiel
2002 Threshold Gift, After Gallery, Ma’alot
2003 Threshold Gift, Beit Gabriel on the Kinneret, Tzemach
2004 Illusions, Municipality Building, Karmiel
2010 Shattered Bridge, Beit Yad Labanim, Karmiel
2011 Childhood Memories, Tal Gallery, Kfar Vradim
2013 A House Built on Sand, Yigal Allon House, Kibbutz Ginosar
Selected Group Shows
1957 Sculpture Biennale, Museum of Modern Art, Haifa
General Exhibition of Israeli Artists, Tel Aviv Museum
1958 Sculpture in Israel, 1948-1958, Museum of Art, Ein Harod
1959 Sculpture Biennale, Middelheim, Belgium
1960 Contemporary Israeli Art, Museum of Modern Art, Paris
Artists of Beersheba, Negev Museum of Art, Beersheba
Israeli Art 1960, Dizengoff House, Tel Aviv Museum
Modern Art in Israel 1960, Israeli Association of Painters and Sculptors, traveling exhibition: Artist’s House, Tel Aviv; Artist’s House, Jerusalem; Artist’s House, Haifa
Garden Sculptures, Second Sculpture Biennale, Museum of Modern Art, Haifa
Paintings Donated to the Kolb Foundation, Dizengoff House, Tel Aviv Museum
1962 Forma Viva, International Sculpture Symposium, Kostanjevica na Krki, Slovenia
1963 Israeli Artists 1963, Tel Aviv Museum
1965 São Paulo Biennale
Israeli Artists 1963, Helena Rubinstein Pavilion for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv Museum
1968 Painting and Sculpture, Sharett Foundation, Jerusalem
Autumn Salon, Helena Rubinstein Pavilion for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv Museum
1969 Sculpture in Israel, Museum of Art, Ein Harod
1970 Israeli Art: Painting, Sculpture, Graphic Design from the Collection of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Tel Aviv Museum
1973 Self-Portrait in Israeli Art, Museum of Modern Art, Haifa
1977 Teachers of the Center of Visual Art, Beersheba, Artists’ House, Jerusalem
1978 Art Show 78, Keystone College, Pennsylvania
Art from Beersheba, Boone National Gallery, Seattle, Washington
1979 Art for Architecture, Interior Design& Décor, Suzanne Gross Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1980 The Myth of Canaan, University Gallery, Haifa University
Some Aspects of Human Representation, Museum of Modern Art, Haifa
1981 Bloomsburg State University Gallery, Pennsylvania
Marion Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sculpture, Paintings, Collage, Jack Rasmussen Gallery, Washington, DC
1982 From the Studio: Works on Paper, American Cultural Center, Tel Aviv
1983 Paper Workshop, Center of Visual Art, Beersheba
The Negev Desert in Israeli Art, Avraham Baron University Gallery, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba
Nature as Inspiration, Museum of Modern Art, Haifa; traveling exhibition
1984 Art in Israel, traveling exhibition, Museum of Modern Art, São Paulo; Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Artists’ House, Jerusalem (1985)
Mt. Sodom, environmental art event, Mt. Sodom
Mt. Sodom, photography exhibition, Avraham Baron University Gallery, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba
Eighty Years of Sculpture, the Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Tree, Plank, Branch, traveling exhibition in Israel, Omanut La’am
Hinnom Valley, environmental art event, Hinnom Valley, Jerusalem
Works on Paper, American Cultural Center, Tel Aviv
1985 Installations, Hakibbutz Gallery, Tel Aviv
Nitzana Terminal 85, environmental art event, Nitzana Terminal
Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council, Artists’ House, Jerusalem
1986 Paper as Art, Arad Museum
Rain Trough, at the environmental art event “Sculpture on the Edge of the Ramon Crater,” Ramon Crater
1987 Landscape Structures, Herzliya Museum
Tel Hai 87: Contemporary Art Encounter, environmental art event, Tel Hai
1988 Forty from Israel, Brooklyn Museum, New York City; traveling exhibition: Florida, Rome, Amsterdam, Vienna, Warsaw, Mexico City
Sculpture in Israel: In Search of Identity, the Open Museum, Tefen
The Sacrifice of Isaac in Israeli Art, Museum of Israeli Art, Ramat Gan
Modern Drawing, New Concepts, Museum of Modern Art, Haifa
1989 Israeli Art, Beersheba Museum of Art
In the shadow of conflict: Israeli Art 1980-1989, the Jewish Museum, New York City
1990 Peaceful Boundary: Israeli-Palestinian Art Encounter, Givat Haviva Center; American Cultural Center, Jerusalem
Three-Dimensional Paper Works, Wilfrid Israel Museum of Asian Art & Studies, Kibbutz Hazore’a
Paper Art, Visual Arts College, Beersheba
New Israeli Acquisitions, the Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Night Interior, Artists’ Studios, Jerusalem
1991 Contemporary Israeli Sculpture, traveling exhibition, Museum of Israeli Art, Ramat Gan; Hara Museum, Tokyo; Fukuoka City Museum, Fukuoka, Japan; National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul (1992)
1992 Bad Art: Artist’s Choice, Artists’ Studios, Tel Aviv; Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem
1993 Stone in the Galilee International Sculpture Symposium, Ma’alot Tarshiha
Enclosed is a Matchbox, Art Workshop, Yavne
1994 Artists on Paper, Railway Station Gallery, Beersheba
Passages, Navon Gallery, Moshav Neve Ilan
Mega-Watt, Electric Company, Jerusalem
1995 Local Code, Migdal Gallery, Tel Aviv
1996 Group Exhibition, Migdal, Frisch Building, Tel Aviv
1997 Duet, Nora Gallery, Jerusalem
1998 Women Artists in Israel Art 1948-1998, Museum of Art, Haifa
The Negev: Fifty Years to the State of Israel, Beth Yad Labanim, Beersheba
Teachers and Students, the Israel Museum, Jerusalem
1999 From Nature to Culture: Art in Paper, the Open Museum, Omer Industrial Park
2001 International Festival of Visual Art, Acco
2008 Sixty Years of Art in Israel: The First Decade, 1948-1958: A Hegemony and a Plurality, Museum of Art, Ein Harod
2012 Trees, the Apter Barrer Arts Center, Maalot
Selected Sculptures and Environmental Works in Israeli Public Venues
Sowing, memorial monument: marble, Kibbutz Hatzor
Woman and Bird, wood; and Landscape in Boxes, marble and steel, Tel Aviv Museum of Art
Man and Bird, marble; and Procession, wood, Museum of Art, Ein Harod
Offering, mahogany relief, Cultural Council, Kibbutz Ein Harod
Cain, mahogany, the Negev Museum, Beersheba
Two Figures, oak, Beersheba Municipality
Manifestation, marble; Coal Presence, clay; Canoes, paper and plastic tubes (5 parts); Mask, hand-made paper, Haifa Museum of Art
Nest, wood, lead, iron, and plaster; Ram, wood relief; Five Masks, hand-made paper, the Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Manifestation, steel and water, the Negev Nuclear Research Center, Dimona
Three Figures, clay, Weizmann Institute of Science
Seated Figure, marble, El Al Collection, Ben-Gurion Airport
Wood relief, Municipal Library, Beersheba
Wood relief, Soldier's Welfare Association, Beersheba
Decorative Mural, teak wood, City Council Hall, Municipality, Beersheba
Memorial to Holocaust Victims, iron, Beersheba cemetery
Wood relief, the Technological Center, Beersheba
Wood relief, teak wood, Laborers’ Council, Beersheba
Mural, aluminum, Tel Aviv
Memorial mural, Ofakim Municipality
Situation 87, Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art
Corner Piece, basalt stone; Coal Presence, teak wood; Sand-Dune Landscape, stone, Karmiel Municipality
Mount Sodom, environmental work: earth and burlap bags, Mount Sodom
Hinnom Valley, environmental work: Hinnom Valley, Jerusalem
Half a Bridge, environmental work: Nitzana Terminal
Rain Trough, environmental work: limestone, Mitzpeh Ramon Sculpture Garden
Passage, environmental work: iron, concrete, and plaster, Tel Hai
Environment, environmental work: Kiryat Nordau Sculpture Park, Netanya
Figure (Shadow), environmental work: river stones and concrete, Ma’alot
Stages, wood, Tal Gallery, Kfar Vradim
Mountains, iron, Galilee Park, Karmiel
Selected Sculptures and Environmental Works in International Public Venues
Procession, Sculpture Garden, Kostanjevica na Krki, Slovenia
Signal, marble and steel, Seattle Municipality, Seattle, Washington
Lackawanna, Marion Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Lackawanna, Jack Rasmussen Gallery, Washington, DC
Lackawanna, Everhart Museum, Scranton, Pennsylvania
Lackawanna, San Francisco Museum, San Francisco, California
Wrapped Landscape, basalt stone and lead, Bloomsburg State University, Pennsylvania
Coal Presence, basalt stone and plastic, Keystone College, Pennsylvania
Mask, wall relief, plaster bandages, San Francisco Museum, San Francisco, California
Awards
1956 America-Israel Cultural Foundation Grant
1959 The Histadruth Award for Sculpture
1965 Sculpture Award, Eighth Biennale of São Paolo, Brazil
1976 The Dizengoff Award for Sculpture
1996 The Ish Shalom Award for Life’s Work
2015 Honorary Degree, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia