Buky Schwartz (1932–2009) — Estate of the Artist

Buky Schwartz was an Israeli sculptor and video artist, and one of the early pioneers of video art. Born in Jerusalem on 16 June 1932 and trained as a sculptor in Israel, he worked at Saint Martin’s School of Art in London through the 1960s, moved to New York in 1971, and from the late 1970s made closed-circuit videoconstructions of two kinds: objects the viewer walks around, and environments the viewer stands inside. He died in Tel Aviv on 1 September 2009. His work was shown at the Venice Biennale (1966), the Whitney Biennial (1981), the Carnegie International (1982) and Documenta 8 (1987), and is held by the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, ZKM Karlsruhe, the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Hara Museum Tokyo, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and the Israel Museum, among others.

Biography

Born in Jerusalem and originally trained as a sculptor in Israel, Schwartz moved to London in 1959, where he played an important role in the hotbed of new sculptural directions at St. Martin’s School of Art during the 1960s. In 1971 Schwartz moved to New York, where he continued to reside part of each year.

During the 1960s and 1970s Schwartz’s inventive use of sculptural materials, such as mirrors and wooden timbers, involved an interplay between illusory appearances and the actual, physical presence, weight, and structure of his work. This playful interaction between sculptural appearance and physical reality quickly became a central aspect in much of his video installation work as he added that modern medium to his vocabulary in the late 1970s.

Schwartz’s videoconstructions have been essentially of two types: objects, sculptural presences that incorporate video monitors and around which the viewer moves; and environments, which are akin to architectural interiors in that the viewer is surrounded by forms and colors, including closed-circuit video imagery.

Acclaimed in three worlds — Europe, Israel, and the United States — Schwartz’s work has been included in the Venice Biennale (1966), the Whitney Biennial (1981), the Carnegie International (1982), and Documenta (1987) in Kassel.

Schwartz’s work is of interest not simply for itself, but for its place in modern art as well.
Bill Judson, Curator of Film & Video, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

Works

Videoconstructions, 1978 — Videotape, black and white — six segments, 20 min. Collection: Hara Museum, Tokyo; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
Yellow Triangle, 1979 — Closed-circuit video installation. Collection: Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Box #1, 1978 — Closed-circuit video installation. Collection: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Painted Projections, 1977 — Video installation. Collection: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC
The Circle, 1978 — Video installation. Collection: ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe
The Chair, 1980 — Video installation
Video See-Saw, 1988 — Video installation. Collection: Tel Aviv Museum of Art
Trojan Horse, 1988 — Video installation
TV Stripes, 1985 — Video installation
Three Angles of Coordination, 1986 — Video installation for the labyrinthian space
Spring 1981, 1981 — Film and video installation
Unison, 1980 — Closed-circuit video installation. Collection: Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
The Big Video Chair, 1987 — Closed-circuit video installation — wooden timbers, monitors, camera, painted panels and mirror. Collection: Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
TV Stripes, 1981 — Installation
String Drawings, 1972 — Ink and coloured pencil on paper
3D Imprint, 1981 — Gallery installation. Collection: Julie M. Gallery, Tel Aviv
Pink Roof, 1986 — Mirrors, mechanism, shelter
Black Square, 1978 — Video installation. Collection: O.K. Harris Gallery, New York
Pillar of Heroism, 1967—70 — Stainless steel and concrete. Collection: Yad Vashem, Jerusalem
Internet Messenger, 2003 — Painted steel. Collection: Petach Tikva, Israel
Hebrew 2000, 2000 — Total sculptural environment — steel and stainless steel. Collection: The Technological Park, Malcha, Jerusalem
Dead Sea, 1986 — Painted steel. Collection: Ein Bokek, Israel
Window to the Boulevard, 1992 — Painted steel and chair. Collection: Zion House, Tel Aviv
TV Sculpture, 1966
Alternatives, 1974—1994
Paddle Ball, 1990
The Way to Mecca, 2011

Selected solo exhibitions

2010 — Point of View, Gordon Gallery, Tel Aviv
2002 — Question Mark, Julie M. Gallery, Tel Aviv
2000 — 4 Interactive Installations, Avni School of Art, gallery
1999 — Kunst Kunst II, Neuruppin, Germany
1998 — In the Footsteps of Yellow Triangle ’98, Julie M. Gallery, Tel Aviv
1997 — Foresthill ’97, Umedalen Skulptur ’97, Umeå, Sweden
1996 — A View From Above, Harn Museum, Gainesville, FL
1995 — Facing Oneself, Lutz Teutloff Gallery, Köln, Germany
1993 — Video sculptures for The Sony Pavilion, CeBIT, Hanover, Germany
1992 — Venus Synchronicity, Lutz Teutloff Gallery, Köln, Germany
1991 — Video Sunflowers, M.U.H.K.A. Museum, Antwerpen, Belgium
1991 — Tel Aviv – New York, Interim Title, Julie M. Gallery, Tel Aviv
1990 — Sony Presents Buky Schwartz, The Ramat Gan Museum
1990 — Video Space for a Blue House, Eastern Washington University, Spokane, WA
1989 — The Picture’s Surface and Form of Detachment, Delta Gallery (Hubertus Wunschik), Düsseldorf, Germany
1989 — Mobius Strip, The Picture’s Surface, and Form of Detachment, Spaces, Cleveland, OH
1989 — Air Lines, Eric Stark Gallery, New York City
1989 — Mobius Strip, Kijkhuis, The Hague, Holland
1986 — Three Angles of Coordination for Monitoring the Labyrinthian Space, Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA
1986 — Video Spiral, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh
1986 — T.V. Stripes on Tree Stumps, American Museum of the Moving Image, Astoria, NY
1984 — Yellow Gate, P.S.1, Institute of Art & Urban Resources, New York
1984 — Airport Video, International Arrivals Building, John F. Kennedy Airport, NY
1984 — Red Flags in the Snow, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT
1981 — 3 Video Works, Art Museum, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh
1981 — Fall 1981, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
1981 — 3D Imprint, Julie M. Gallery, Tel Aviv
1981 — 3D Imprint, Anthology Film Archives, New York City
1980 — Videosculpture, Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, NY
1980 — Videoconstructions, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
1979 — Video Color Bars, Akron Art Institute, OH
1978 — Videoconstructions, O.K. Harris Gallery, New York
1978 — Videoconstructions, I.C.C., Antwerp, Belgium
1977 — Painted Projections, Julie M. Gallery, Tel Aviv
1976 — Mirror Sculptures, O.K. Harris Gallery, New York
1971 — Buky Schwartz, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
1968 — Buky Schwartz, Tel Aviv Museum of Art

Selected group exhibitions

2025 — Spectacular Failure — Falling (2001), Rest in Peace (2001), The Rachel & Israel Polack Gallery, Israel
2024 — Art on BRiC Walls — Videoconstructions (1978), Lynn University, Boca Raton, FL
2023 — Bet Alpha — Videoconstructions (1978), Kira A. Princess of Prussia Foundation, Vienna, Austria
2022 — The Language of the Liminal, Ramat Gan Museum, Israel
2022 — Videoconstructions (1978), Azrieli Gallery, Israel
2020 — Untitled, 2000 — masking tape and transparent paper, Museum on the Seam, Israel
2019 — Videoconstructions Segment 5 (1978) and The Chair (1980), ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany
2016–18 — Videoconstructions (1978), Artis, international traveling video exhibition
2015 — Painted Projections (1977) — Watch This! Revelations in Media Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC
2015 — The Big Video Chair (1987) — Uncrated, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
2013 — The Chair — ArTricks, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
2007 — Spring 1981 — Video Installation, Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, New York
2003 — Box #1 (1978) — Communication Interferences, Haifa Museum, Israel
2002 — Black Sun — The Boundaries of Sculpture, The Open Museum, Tefen, Israel
2000 — Collection, Arturo & Silvia Schwarz, Tel Aviv Museum
2000 — Group Drawing Exhibition, Julie Gallery, Tel Aviv
2000 — Group 70’s–2000, Nelly Aman Gallery, Tel Aviv
2000 — Between Water & Sky — 3rd Biennale of Installations, Haifa Museum
1999 — Yellow Star of David — mirror installation, IKD International Kunstforum, Drewen, Germany
1998 — Yellow Triangle ’79 — Israeli Art in the Seventies, Tel Aviv Museum
1998 — Yellow Triangle ’79 — Collection of the Whitney Museum, San Jose Museum, California
1995 — Intervention in the Museum Space, Museum of Modern Art, Caracas
1995 — Video Seesaw — First Biennale, Kuang Ju, South Korea
1994 — Along New Lines — a drawing exhibition, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
1993 — Sculpting the Spectator — Construction in Process IV, Lodz, Poland
1993 — Flying Marx — Monumental Propaganda, Independent Curators Incorporated, New York
1990 — Frieze 1990 — a videosculpture, Paula Anglim Gallery, San Francisco
1989 — Three Angles of Coordination… 1985–86 — Videosculpture Retrospective and Actual 1963–69: Köln–Berlin–Zürich, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Köln, W. Germany
1989 — Three Points of Observation — The Presence of Absence: New Installations, Independent Curators Incorporated, New York (traveling)
1988 — Forfera — “New American Video Art: Expanded Forms,” with Nam June Paik and Bruce Nauman, curated by John Hanhardt, Linz, Austria & Camerino, Italy
1988 — Video See Saw, Trojan Horse — “Video Art: Expanded Forms”, Whitney Museum at the Equitable Center, New York
1987 — Relay Stations — Documenta 8, Kassel, W. Germany
1986 — Pink Roof — “Engaging Objects: The Participatory Act of Mirrors, Mechanism and Shelters”, The Clocktower, New York City
1986 — Untitled 1986 — “Intericon 86”, Charlottenborg, Copenhagen
1986 — Through the Looking Glass — “The Other Television: Video by Artists”, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN
1984 — T.V. on a Table, Tel Aviv Museum, Israel
1985 — T.V. Stripes 1985, Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, Holland
1984 — Box 1984 — “Current Five”, The Milwaukee Art Museum, WI
1984 — A History of Video Art, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
1983 — Videoconstructions — São Paulo Biennale, Brazil
1983 — Yellow Diagonal, Artpark, Lewiston, NY
1982 — Carnegie International, Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh — curated by Gene Baro
1981 — In Real Time — Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum, New York
1981 — Spring 1981 — Film/Video Installations, Thorpe Intermedia Gallery, Sparkill, NY
1981 — II Bienal de Arte, Medellín, Colombia
1980 — Biennale de la Critique, Palais de Beaux Arts, Charleroi, France
1980 — Beyond Surface, ICC, Antwerp, Belgium
1980 — White Flags Triangle — landscape sculpture, Tel Hai, Israel
1979 — Yellow Triangle — Re-Visions, Whitney Museum, New York
1977 — Forms in Focus, Co-op City, New York
1977 — Sculpture Now, Potsdam, NY
1976 — Painting and Sculpture Today, Indianapolis Museum, IN
1976 — Group, Bertha Urdang Gallery, New York
1975 — Storm King Art Center, New York
1974 — Beyond Drawing, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
1971 — Symposium Urbanum, Nuremberg, W. Germany
1966 — Venice Biennale, Venice

Awards and prizes

2002 — “Combining Art with Architecture” Prize, Tel Aviv Foundation
1995 — “Combining Art with Architecture” Prize, Tel Aviv Foundation
1992 — Pollock-Krasner Grant for videosculpture, New York City
1990 — Guggenheim Grant for Publication
1989 — Annual International Prize for videosculpture, L’immagine Elettronica, Ferrara, Italy
1988 — Sculpture Grant, National Endowment for the Arts
1987 — Guggenheim Fellowship
1986 — Mid Atlantic States Art Consortium Residency, Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA
1983 — Video Art Award, NYSCA
1980 — CAPS Fellowship
1971 — Nuremberg Urban Symposium Purchase Award
1971 — Dizengoff Prize, Tel Aviv Museum
1971 — Sainsbury Award, London
1971 — Deutscher Kritikerpreis, Berlin
1961 — House and Garden Prize, London
1961 — Sainsbury Award, London

Public collections and commissions

Collapsing House (1990) — Steel. Sheba Medical Center, Israel — donated 2022
Internet Messenger (2003) — Painted steel. Petach Tikva, Israel
Between Earth and Sky (2002) — Steel and mirrors. Kiriat Ono, Israel
The Giving Tree (2002) — Painted steel and mirrors. Lavon Park, Holon, Israel
Leonardo (2001) — Steel. Ramat Poleg, Netanya, Israel
Hebrew 2000 (2000–2003) — Steel and stainless steel — 20–25 sculptures. The Technological Park, Malcha, Jerusalem
Zig-Zag (1998) — Steel, landscape sculpture. Park West, Raanana, Israel
Capital (1997–98) — Glass and raw steel, 9m. Isracard Building, Tel Aviv
Pinball Machine (1997–98) — Steel, stainless steel, fiberglass and mirrors, 15m. Isracard Building, Tel Aviv
Foresthill ’97 (1997) — PVC poles and concrete. Umedalen Skulptur ’97, Umeå, Sweden
Shikun (Housing Project) (1996) — Raw steel. Holon, Israel
Obelisk, Interim Title (1996) — Raw steel and concrete, 9m. Tel Aviv, Israel
Target II (1996) — Video installation. Lobby of Channel 2, Israeli TV, Jerusalem
Facing Oneself (1995) — Raw steel. Collection of Lutz Teutloff, Brock University, St. Catherines, Canada
Facing Another (1995) — Raw steel. Collection of Lutz Teutloff, Brock University, St. Catherines, Canada
Facing Eternity (1995) — Raw steel. Collection of Lutz Teutloff, Brock University, St. Catherines, Canada
Video Community / Apertures to Iraq (1995) — Video installation. Beth Hatefutsoth, Tel Aviv
Sculpting the Spectator (1993) — Raw steel and a mirror — six locations. Lodz, Poland
A Window on the Boulevard (1992) — Painted steel and chair. Zion House, Tel Aviv
Summit of Fear (1992) — Painted steel. Netanya South highway, Israel
Plato’s Cave II (1992) — Steel and video. Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT
Metropolis 1990 (1990) — Steel. Tel Aviv University, Israel
Dead Sea Sculpture (1987) — Painted steel. Ein Bokek, Israel
Insideout (1986) — Vermont marble — memorial for Jonathan Netanyahu. American Jewish Museum, Philadelphia
Sneh (1983) — Painted plywood. Jewish Museum, New York
Waves (1980) — Cast aluminum. Singapore
Aqueduct (1977) — Steel and tree trunks. Jerusalem, Israel
Insideout (1976) — Granite. Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
Untitled (1976) — Painted steel and mirrors. Reno, Nevada
Untitled (1975) — Painted wood. Bank Leumi Trust, New York
Untitled (1975) — Painted steel and mirrors. Fairfax, Virginia
Untitled (1975) — Painted aluminum and mirrors. Washington, DC
Untitled (1974) — Aluminum diamond plate. University of Chicago
El Al Protective Walls Art Project (1973–74) — Steel and mirrors. Greece, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Austria, Holland, USA
Hope (1973) — Stainless steel. West Hartford, Connecticut
Untitled (1972) — Painted steel. Sterling Heights, Michigan
Spiral (1971) — Painted steel. Dallas, Texas
Waves (1971) — Stainless steel. El Al Terminal, JFK Airport
Cube Column (1971) — Stainless steel. Israel Discount Bank, New York
Unexpected 1 (1971) — Cor-ten steel. Nuremberg, Germany
Spiral (1970) — Painted steel. New York, near Pratt Institute
Five (Cube Column) (1970) — Painted fiberglass. Kiriat Eliezer, Haifa, Israel
Malkat Ha’Ambatia (The Shampoo Queen) (1970) — Stage design. The Cameri Theater, Tel Aviv
0°–180° (1968) — Painted steel. Israel Museum Sculpture Garden, Jerusalem
Untitled (1968) — Cast aluminum. El Al Israel Airlines, Zurich
Untitled (1967) — Stainless steel. El Al Israel Airlines, Johannesburg
Pillar of Heroism (1967–70) — Stainless steel and concrete. Yad Vashem, Jerusalem
Choshen — Bronze. The Knesset, Jerusalem
Untitled (1965) — Brass tubing and light bulbs. Hilton Hotel, Tel Aviv
Altars and Waterways (1963) — Concrete and basalt. Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel

Publications

Buky Schwartz: The Seeing I — Hardcover — January 1, 2004. Ted Perry (Editor, Preface), John G. Hanhardt (Foreword), Buky Schwartz (Contributor)
Buky Schwartz: Videoconstructions — Hardcover — August 30, 2005. Bill Judson (Author)
Facing Oneself ’95
Buky Schwartz — The Museum of Israeli Art, Ramat-Gan — September 6, 1990
Box #1 — International Cultureel Centrum — May 27, 1978
Buky Schwartz Videotapes 1978 — The Israel Museum, Jerusalem

News

Boca Raton Innovation Campus and Lynn University feature Videoconstructions (1978) (October 2024) — The Estate was featured with Videoconstructions (1978) at the Art on BRiC Walls: NFT panel and exhibit opening at Lynn University — the six-segment work shown on three displays for a year.
Kira A. Princess of Prussia Foundation features Videoconstructions (1978) (November 2023) — Shown in Bet Alpha, a group exhibition curated by Ory Dessau, produced by the Kira A. Princess of Prussia Foundation in Vienna, September 30 – October 7, 2023.
Jerusalem Print Workshop features Buky Schwartz’s prints in Metamorphoses: Replication and Copy in Israeli Print (May 2022) — Curated by Yair Talmor. Opened Thursday, May 12, 2022; closed June 10, 2022.
Negative Space: Trajectories of Sculpture at ZKM Karlsruhe (March 2019) — ZKM Museum invited the Estate to participate in Negative Space: Trajectories of Sculpture, April 6 – August 11, 2019, ZKM_Atrium 1+2, featuring Videoconstructions segment 5 (1978) and The Chair (1980).
NYU Moving Image Archiving & Preservation collaborates with University of Miami to preserve the work of Buky Schwartz (March 2016) — MIAP at NYU Tisch and the Norton Herrick Center for Motion Picture Studies joined the Estate to catalogue, assess, and plan the preservation of Schwartz’s video archive.
University of Chicago features a tour of Buky Schwartz’s 1974 Untitled (June 2015) — The Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory (3CT) hosted a tour of Schwartz’s modular Untitled sculpture at Cottage Grove and 60th, with art historian Christine Mehring and conservator Elka Krajewska.
Painted Projection (1977) to show at Smithsonian American Art Museum (May 2015) — Smithsonian American Art Museum acquired Painted Projection (1977) for Watch This! Revelations in Media Art, April 24 – September 7, 2015.

About the Estate

The Estate of Artist Buky Schwartz strives to raise public awareness of Buky Schwartz’s art legacy. The Estate actively works to support museum and gallery exhibits, private and public collections, education, research, and historic restoration and preservation.

In 2019 the artist’s family donated his archival collection — some 2,000 items — to the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. The Buky Schwartz Archive is held there at the Information Center for Israeli Art, and is open to researchers.

Enquiries: info@bukyschwartz.com