TEL AVIV.- The Haim Shiff Prize for Figurative-Realist Art Committee has awarded this year’s prize to Netta Lieber Sheffer. The prize carries a US$ 10,000 grant and a solo exhibition with a catalog at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (TAMA).

One-hundred and twenty-one artists submitted applications for the prize this year; the Prize Committee included TAMA’s Director Tania Coen-Uzzielli and Chief Curator Mira Lapidot, curator Emanuela Calò, TAMA Board of Directors member Doron Sebbag, Professor Ariel Hirschfeld and Dr. David Graves.

The Committee noted that “Netta Lieber Sheffer (born 1972) presents an oeuvre that is outstanding in size, wealth of detail and the ambition of the frame story or idea at its core. This is especially astounding when considering that the medium she uses is pencil, charcoal or watercolor on large sheets of paper. Lieber Sheffer masterfully shifts between works that cover the gallery walls and deceive the eye (trompe l’oeil) to view the drawings as the extension of the gallery’s architecture; works that detail laden shelves in an eclectic, fictional cabinet of curiosities, amassed with delightful treasures, sculptures and objects from various cultures; and a new series featuring drawings of boats carrying “historical preemies” of various political and cultural figures that have been abandoned and not realized. Lieber Sheffer uses drawings as an effective tool to create a thought-provoking and poignant viewing experience, as well as for researching and documenting cultural vestiges, better- and lesser-known histories and resurrecting that which has been doomed to oblivion and annihilation.”

Lieber Sheffer holds an MFA (with distinction) from the University of Haifa and a BFA from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem.

Haim Shiff (1924–2000) was a businessman, hotelier and collector of Israeli art who was a staunch supporter of young and unknown artists. His son, Dubi Shiff, also a keen collector, decided to commemorate his father with an annual prize awarded at TAMA to a prominent Israeli figurative-realist artist.

The Haim Shiff Prize for Figurative-Realist Art was established in 2008 and has since earned a key position in Israeli art, drawing large numbers of viewers to the exhibitions of its winning artists. It has been awarded so far to: Amnon David Ar, 2008 | Maïa Zer, 2009 | Eran Reshef, 2010 | Orit Akta Hildesheim, 2011 | Sigal Tsabari, Eldar Farber, 2012 | David Nipo, 2013 | Leonid Balaklav, 2014 | Ofer Rotem, 2015 | Fatma Shanan, 2016 | Matan Ben Cnaan, 2017 | Samah Shihadi, 2018 | Tigist Yoseph Ron, 2019 | Israel Hemed, 2020 | Shira Zellwer, 2021 | Roni Taharlev, 2022