News Article

Haifa, Israel, Mar 10, 2011—The University of Haifa is brimming with pride as it has been announced that the Israel Prize for Fine Arts for 2011 is to be awarded to Prof. Yaacov Dorchin of the Department of Fine Arts.

The award will be presented to Prof. Dorchin on Independence Day,  May 2011.

“Prof. Yaacov Dorchin is one of the leading sculptors in Israel, a creator who has been exhibiting his work for over forty years. Many of his sculptures can be seen gracing prominent public places and his work has been given the highest regard in the art community and by the public overall,” said a statement by the Israel Prize.

Prof. Dorchin, Haifa native, has been teaching in the Department of Fine Arts since 1990 and in 1997-2000 was Head of that Department. His first exhibition was held in 1968 in Tel Aviv. Since the late 1970s, his works have featured statues standing atop everyday objects, such as beds and wooden boards. All the while, Prof. Dorchin has also exhibited drawings in various galleries around Israel. One particular milestone in his work was the “Angel in an Irish Landscape” exhibition, which was held in the Naomi Givon gallery in 1983, where his iron sculpting became an icon in Israeli art.

The following decade saw five Dorchin exhibitions at the Gordon Gallery. One of the sculptures featured in those exhibitions was “A Well and Four Dogs”, which later took its place on the corner of King George and Benzion streets in Tel Aviv (pictured at right).

In 1990, Prof. Dorchin was chosen to represent Israel at the Venice Biennale. In 1991 he won the Israeli Minister of Education and Culture Prize and in 2004 the Emet Prize for Culture and Art. In 2009, a special retrospective exhibition was held in his honor, exhibiting his iron sculptures alongside drawings and prints that he has produced over the years of his career.