British Friends of the Art Museums of Israel auction raises £400k

The British Friends of the Art Museums of Israel’s annual gala dinner and auction raised an £400,000 with the works exhibited including that of a survivor from the 7 October massacre at Kibbutz Be’eri. 

Held at the Phillips auction house in central London, the event followed a week-long preview of a range of works including photography, ceramics, textiles, oils, glass, porcelain and Judaica.

The main evening welcomed representatives from major institutions in the Israeli art world, including the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, Petach Tikva’s Museum of Art and International Council of Museums Israel, the Mishkan Museum of Art, Haifa Museums and the Be’eri Gallery. Israel’s deputy ambassador to the UK, Daniela Grudsky Ekstein, and the embassy’s cultural attaché, Yoram Morad, also attended.

A live and silent auction featured works from world renowned artists including Judy Chicago, Maria Farrar, William Kentridge, Maryam Eisler, Yulia Iosilzon, and Israeli artist and Kibbutz Be’eri survivor, Haran Kislev.

BFAMI’s creative director, Doron von Beider, platformed ‘New New Horizons’, a special selection of artworks from 17 emerging photographers recently graduated from leading art schools in Israel. With more than 100 artworks submitted, a specially curated selection were chosen for the exhibition.

Co chairs Pamela Crystal and Poju Zabludowicz spoke of the power of art and museums to “bridge cultural, religious, and social divides, bringing people together, offering sanctuary, and creating spaces to build, to reflect, and to be creative — even after all the destruction we have seen.”

Highlighting the challenges facing Israel’s museums on the international stage with artists from abroad still reluctant to exhibit in the Jewish state, the evening honoured Judy Chicago, one of the few global artists proudly showing in Israel, with Crystal and Zabludowicz lauding her “commitment courage and belief in the power of art to challenge, educate and inspire”.

They announced the launch of the Judy Chicago Creative Arts Awards, a five-year collaboration supported by BFAMI and the Nassima Landau Art Foundation.

Addressing guests, founder, collector and philanthropist Steeve Nassima explained the initiative meant that “each year at least one BFAMI supported programme is dedicated to a female-centred cause, uplifting women, empowering girls, and championing them through art, education, and access.”

Pamela Crystal said “the extraordinary fact that Israel has more museums per capita than anywhere else in the world is not lost on me”, acknowledging the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, which marked its 60th anniversary “despite the continuing decrease in international tourism affecting its numbers” and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, which “continues to present a diverse and powerful array of shows and exhibitions….while playing a unique and unprecedented civic role due to its position in what has now sadly been renamed as Hostage Square.”

Proceeds raised will support art education, healing and multicultural programmes run by sixteen art museums across Israel.