"Untitled" by Malcah Zeldis

Title: Untitled
Artist: Malcah Zeldis
Year: 2019
Size: 6” x 7.5” 
Signed

Malcah Zeldis is known for work that draws from a mix of biblical, historical, and autobiographical themes. A Detroit native, she spent her early adult years in Israel, moved to New York in 1958, began working as a teacher's aide, and took up painting around 1960. Zeldis has acknowledged influences ranging from the Flemish masters to Haitian folk art. When she was eighteen, she moved to Israel to live on a kibbutz and painted a few small images during her free time. A well-known Israeli artist, Aaron Giladi, praised her work and encouraged her to paint larger canvases. She was so overwhelmed by this, however, that she stopped painting altogether. (Willa S. Rosenberg, “Malcah, Her Life,” The Clarion, Summer 1988) In 1958, Zeldis returned to the United States and settled in Brooklyn. Her confidence in her art grew and she began to create bigger, bolder paintings based on childhood memories, historical figures, and family events. 

The Smithsonian owns several Malcah Zeldis works as do 34 museums world-wide.