Moses Bahelfer Bagel (1908-1995) - Composition abstraite

Moses Bagel (20th century) — Abstract composition, 1987

Moshe Bagel (1908–1995) — Painter and graphic designer, Bauhaus and the Paris School

Moshe Bagel, also known as Moshe Bahelfer and Moses Bahelfer, was a painter, graphic designer, illustrator and scenographer born on June 29, 1908 in Vilnius, today Lithuania, and who died in Paris in 1995.

After artistic training in Vilnius, he joined the Yung Vilna group, bringing together young artists, writers and poets of Yiddish expression.

In 1928, he entered the Bauhaus in Dessau, one of the major schools of European modern art. From 1928 to 1932, he studied graphic arts and advertising, as well as painting with Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky and Lyonel Feininger. He earned his Bauhaus diploma with distinction in February 1932. This training left a lasting mark on his artistic approach, notably in his interest in constructing forms, composition and abstraction.

He settled in Paris in 1933 and pursued a diversified career. He worked as a graphic designer and illustrator for the Nouvelle Revue Française, illustrated children’s books, and carried out photographic reports for the VU agency. He also developed activity in theater, designing sets and costumes for Yiddish theater.

In 1939, he joined the French Foreign Legion. During the Occupation, based in Toulouse, he participated in the Resistance by making forged identity papers.

From 1947 to 1968, he directed the advertising workshop of the film company 20th Century Fox in Paris. In 1959, UNESCO commissioned him to create fifteen large works inspired by the universe of the Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem. After their presentation at UNESCO’s headquarters, Bagel donated them to the foundation devoted to the writer in Tel Aviv.

In 1968, his works featured in the traveling exhibition 50 Jahre Bauhaus, organized by the Württembergischer Kunstverein in Stuttgart and shown in several international cities.

Moses Bagel occupies a special place in 20th-century modern art, at the crossroads of Bauhaus, the Paris School and graphic arts. His career testifies to a varied artistic practice, ranging from illustration and figuration to geometric and abstract explorations.

References

* Bauhaus Kooperation — “Moshe Bahelfer”: https://bauhauskooperation.de/en/wissen/das-bauhaus/koepfe/biografien/biografie-detail/person-38
* Bureau d’art École de Paris — “Moses Bagel (Moshe Bahelfer, dit)” : https://ecoledeparis.org/en/moses-bagel/
* Nadine Nieszawer and Deborah Princ, Jewish Artists of the Paris School, 1905–1939.

Provenance of the work

This work comes from a family collection linked to the artist Moses Bagel (also known as Moses Bahelfer). It was kept within the family of his grandmother, with whom the artist lived.

It was transmitted within the framework of this family history and is today offered for sale by a member of that family.

This family provenance constitutes an important element of the work’s history.