Ori Sherman was born in Jerusalem in 1934. He was raised in New York City. His talent as an artist was vident quite early. As a child he attended classes at the the Museum of Modern Art, developing his skills in many media. He graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a Fine Arts degree in 1955. Following military service, he moved to San Francisco where he continued to live until his death in 1988.
Serenely uninfluenced by current art fashions, Ori Sherman created a unique personal style, inspired by archetypical images and elements of folk art, and both Oriental and Western traditions of miniature painting and manuscript illumination. In the 1970's, his focus turned to large-scale projects. Inspired by the Passover holiday, he painted in gouache a series he called The Four Questions, witty depictions of animals at a Seder. When this series was enthusiastically received by a publisher (Dial Books), he proceeded to paint two more series, The Story of Hanukkah, and The Creation, the latter his masterwork, a depiction of the first chapter of Genesis in vibrant colors suffused with mystical energy. In 1987, a retrospective of his paintings and illuminated manuscripts was mounted at The Jewish Community Museum of San Francisco to critical and public acclaim.
Individual works by Mr. Sherman are in private collections throughout the U.S. and abroad. The Story of Hannukkah is in the permanent collection of Temple El-Emmanuel in San Francisco. The Four Questions
and The Creation is part of the collection of the Judah L. Magnes Museum in Berkeley, California.
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