Raffi Lavie

1937 - 2007
Lavie was born in 1937 in Ramat Gan and began his career in the visual art world after participating in an art class of Haim Gamzu at the former “people’s university” in Tel Aviv. In 1955 he joined the army but was released after being wounded and recognized as an IDF disabled veteran. Lavie is considered by many to be one of the most important and influential artists in Israeli art in general and Israeli painting in particular. In 1965 he began working as a teacher at HaMidrasha – Faculty of the Arts where he educated generations of young artists. His paintings are characterized by specific signs which usually reflect his emotional, rational and personal world, looking at his paintings is like deciphering symbols, an act that requires a rich reservoir of complex associations. Lavi became the most identified minimalist artist who worked with materials that were not accepted and considered inferior. In his paintings he presents a new aesthetic of unusual compositions, erasings, sheets of plywood instead of canvases and use of acrylic and industrial paints instead of oil paints. Many of his works are based on a spontaneous pencil scribble, which has become one of the most prominent features of his paintings. Over the years, Lavie would attach photographs, reproductions and various posters to his paintings, thus creating different levels of aesthetics in one work and turning the banal and the vague into art. In the 1980s, Sarah Breitberg-Semel curated one of the most important and memorable exhibitions in Israeli art - "The Want of Matter: A Quality in Israeli Art" - at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. She placed Lavie's paintings in the center of the exhibition as he was a leading figure in the Israeli art world, his paintings were a symbol to the "Want of Matter" art style which may important artists followed and had Lavie at its core. This style was characterized by the use of meager materials and a critical attitude to the social reality and to the myths of Israeli society.

Total counts: 282

Previous auctions

Lot : 355

Raffi Lavie
Raffi Lev, 1968, Panda and pencil on…

Sold for:

400

Lot : 492

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 2005, pencil and acrylic on board,…

Sold for:

700

Lot : 567

Raffi Lavie
Geranium, 2001, Collage and mixed media on…

Sold for:

400

Lot : 569

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 1996, Pencil and gouache on photograph,…

Sold for:

380

Lot : 570

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 1996, Pencil and gouache on photograph,…

Sold for:

380

Lot : 128

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 1967, Oil on canvas, 33X55 cm.…

Sold for:

4000

Lot : 129

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 2005, Acrylic and mixed media on…

Sold for:

3200

Lot : 130

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 2003, Acrylic on board, 122X122 cm.…

Sold for:

12000

Lot : 168

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 1977, Mixed media on wood, 122X83…

Sold for:

13000

Lot : 169

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 2006, Mixed media on wood, 122X122…

Sold for:

11000

Lot : 193

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 1962, Oil on canvas, 74X50 cm.…

Sold for:

4200

Lot : 443

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 1968 Pastel and pen on paper…

Sold for:

300

Lot : 516

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 1968 Watercolor on paper, 20x25 cm,…

Sold for:

600

Lot : 599

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 1968, Oil pastel and pencil on…

Sold for:

360

Lot : 112

Raffi Lavie
Untitled (40), Oil on canvas, 33X41 cm.…

Sold for:

4000

Lot : 113

Raffi Lavie
Head, 1995 (885), Acrylic on wood, 61X47…

Sold for:

1500

Lot : 114

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 1968 (457), Oil and mixed media…

Sold for:

4800

Lot : 150

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 2006 (1150), Oil on plywood, 122X122…

Estimated price:

$6,000 - $9,000

Lot : 151

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 2004, Acrylic and pencil on plywood,…

Sold for:

8000

Lot : 119

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 1968, Oil on canvas, 60X73 cm.…

Sold for:

4400

Lot : 120

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 1968, Oil and mixed media on…

Sold for:

3800

Lot : 121

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 1967, Oil and collage on board,…

Sold for:

12000

Lot : 350

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 2000, Mixed media on board, 55x39…

Sold for:

1700

Lot : 355

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 1999, Mixed media on cardboard calendar,…

Estimated price:

$1,200 - $1,500

Lot : 356

Raffi Lavie
“Why the Education Department…” Mixed media on…

Sold for:

650

Lot : 9

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 1983, Mixed media on paper, 45X60…

Estimated price:

$400 - $600

Lot : 13

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 1967, mixed media on paper, 25X17…

Sold for:

200

Lot : 14

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 1967, mixed media on paper, 25X17…

Sold for:

260

Lot : 101

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 1985, Acrylic and pencil on plywood,…

Sold for:

7500

Lot : 111

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 1981, Acrylic, collage and mixed media…

Sold for:

7000

Lot : 137

Raffi Lavie
Head, 2001, Acrylic and pencil on plywood,…

Sold for:

15000

Lot : 138

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 1962, Oil on canvas, 41X41 cm.…

Sold for:

5000

Lot : 139

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 1990, Acrylic and pencil on plywood,…

Estimated price:

$6,000 - $8,000

Lot : 203

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 1961, Oil on cardboard, 50X70 cm.…

Sold for:

2800

Lot : 204

Raffi Lavie
Untitled, 1996, Oil and graphite on board,…

Sold for:

4800

Lot : 603

Raffi Lavie
Landscape, 1963 Pencil and watercolor panda on…

Sold for:

750

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