Noemi (Naomi) Schindler Biography

Noemi (Naomi) Schindler

Israeli

1919-1991

Biography

Israeli artist Noemi (Naomi) Schindler was born in Berlin, Germany in 1919 to silk merchant Hugo and Frida (Radler) Levi, whose father had been a picture framer in Berlin. Her father died in 1931Noemi emigrated to Israel from Berlin in 1936, at age 17, fleeing the Nazi regime. She arrived in Palestine with a Youth Aliya group and settled at Kibbutz Ayelet Hashahar in the Upper Galilee where she married. In Israel she studied with Moshe Sternschuss, Yitzhak Danziger and Rudi Lehman.

By 1943 she was already taking part in a group art show held taking part in a group art show held in the foyer of the Habima theatre. At the kibbutz she continued to sculpt and also took several courses organized by the kibbutz artists association directed by Rudi Lehmann. Following the political split in the Kibbuts hameuchad movement she left Ayelet hashahar in 1949 and together with her husband moved to Jerusalem where she continued to receive advice and guidance from Rudi Lehmann.

In 1953 the family moved again, this time to Kibbutz Hagosherim where Noemi worked as nurse at the children house and as a teacher. Noemi, in keeping with her status as a member of the Israeli Association of Painters and Sculptors, began participating in group shows and exhibitions including and exhibition by artists from Haifa and the Northern Region at the At the Artists' House in Haifa in 1958. Later that year Noemi accompanied her husband when he went to Paris to serve as an emissary. There she exhibited her works at the autumn salon exhibitions and the following year in the independence Salon. She also participated in an exhibition by Israeli artist in Paris and exhibited her works at the Salon d'Automne there.

Schindler made the most of her time in Paris by taking several art courses. The motherhood motif as well as nude lovers in embrace both served as a recurring motif in her art but they have a gentle non erotic quality to them. Though primarily known as a sculptor she was also an accomplished printmaker, working mostly with woodcut.

Schindler moved to Paris in 1965, where she died in 1991.