In 1976, Yoram Raanan arrived in Israel with a pack on his back and $500 in his pocket. Among the first purchases from his coveted savings was a box of pastels and watercolors that would allow him to do what he loved – create art. And create he has. From humble beginnings of selling his work to fellow yeshiva students, to commissioned public works and private collectors, Raanan describes his career as one where “money sometimes trickled in, sometimes it rained, sometimes it poured, and sometimes there was a drought.”
On the 40th anniversary of his aliya, the metaphor of this prolific artist’s success shifted from water to another of earth’s fickle elements. On November 25, Raanan watched as an estimated 1,500 paintings valued at $2 million to $3m. went up in smoke as his studio fell victim to fires that raged through Moshav Beit Meir in the Judean Hills. Also lost were exhibition catalogues, records, photo collages, tools and other materials that once filled 300 square meters of space.
“I thought she was overreacting,” the artist recalls of his wife Meira’s 2 a.m. pleas to evacuate his studio where he was sleeping after a typical 12-hour day of painting, until he went outside and saw sparks on the ground.
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