Avni Aharon (1906-1951, b. Russia). Aharon Avni was born in Yekaterinoslav (now Dnipro), in the Russian Empire (now Ukraine). His father was an engineer and a well-known zionist. As a young child he attended “cheder”, and as an adolescent he enrolled in a local Hebrew gymnasium. At that time, he was a member of HeHalutz movement. Between the years 1923-1925 he studied art in Moscow. In 1925 he immigrated to Israel and enrolled at Bezalel. At that time he was a member of the Haganah, and one of the founders of HaNoar HaOved and the Zionist Socialist Party. In 1928 he moved to Tel Aviv, where he established a painting studio with several other artists. In the late 1920s he was one of the members of the “Massad” artist group. Between the years 1930-1932 he lived in Paris, France. Upon his return, he worked for the Tel Aviv municipality and as a math teacher at Kibbutz Givat HaShlosha. He returned to Europe for visits in 1935 and 1950. In 1936 he founded the “Studia”, the Histadrut’s painting and sculpture studio in Tel Aviv, together with Yehezkel Streichman and Moshe Sternschuss. After his death, in 1951, the “Studia” was renamed the Avni Institute.
Despite the main realist element in his work, expressed in landscapes and portraits, Avni was also influenced by French modernist painting, with his use of expressive brushstrokes and intense colors.
