Ruth Zarfati

Ruth Zarfati-Sternschuss (Hebrew: רות צרפתי-שטרנשוס; April 17, 1928 – February 27, 2010[1]) was an Israeli painter, sculptor and illustrator.

[2][3][4][5] Ruth Zarfati was born in Petah Tikva and attended Ahad Ha'am school in the city.

In 1945, after graduating high school and before her IDF enlistment, she became a student of sculptor Moshe Sternschuss (1903-1992), whom she married in 1949.

Sculptor Moshe Sternschuss continued to guide Zarfati throughout their marriage and gave her the principles of the formal and plastic design of modern sculpture.

He focused on developing the values and structure of the sculpted figure in the spirit of modern art, and freeing them from dependence on the real image.

In 1949, she and husband Moshe Sternschuss joined the New Horizons group, an association inspired by the European artistic avant-garde movement that sought to promote the creation of modern art in the country.

[citation needed] The baby sculptures first appeared in the late fifties after the birth of her daughter Hagit, at The 35th Venice International Art Festival in 1970.

Zarfati's paintings focus on pure artistic qualities - in structure and composition, in drawing, and in a rich color palette.

Almost all of the Zarfati’s paintings were made in watercolor or colored pencils on modest sheets of paper, pages of workbooks and notebooks.

In 2004, a “story garden” was inaugurated in the city of Holon, where Zarfati set up a colorful procession of large figures from “Dodi Simcha.” It was the artist's last major sculptural project.

Zarfati exhibited ceramic jewelry at the Triennale for the Craft of Thought in Milan alongside Salvador Dalí and Chilida.