Yesterday an exhibit opened in Israel’s capital dedicated to the art of Ahuva (Huvy) Elisha (1927–2022), a religiously devout painter whose work was primarily influenced by European impressionism but who lived much of her life in the city’s ḥaredi enclave of Me’ah She’arim. Elisha’s paintings have hung in the Knesset and in the U.S. embassy. Emily Schrader writes:
Elisha was born in Jerusalem, in the Bukharan quarter, to a family of many rabbis. Due to her father’s work, she relocated to Europe at age six—first Austria, then Prague, and later London. It was in Devonshire as a young girl that Elisha’s headmistress noticed her affinity for the arts. She encouraged her to continue painting and ultimately assisted her in studying at the prestigious St. Martin’s School of Art and Design in London, where she learned multiple art forms: impressionism, realism, and post-impressionism. At only fourteen, Elisha was the youngest student ever to be accepted.
Elisha later married and lived in London, with a short stint in Herzliya, Israel—but always carried with her the yearning to return home to Jerusalem. At thirty-five, her grandson says she began to paint professionally as her career, and she ultimately returned to Israel for good in 1968, making aliyah with her entire family and continuing to paint into her nineties in Meah She’arim.
When it comes to her paintings of Jewish life and of Jerusalem, which was always near to her heart, it was Judaism itself that inspired much of Elisha’s later work, depicting the vitality of Jewish life. While Elisha painted incredible landscapes, some of her most moving work focuses on showing the celebration of Jewish life, from weddings to colorful picturesque scenes in Jerusalem.
Read more on Ynet: https://www.ynetnews.com/culture/article/s1gyrow6s