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Theo Tobiasse

Theo Tobiasse was born in 1927 in Palestine where his father, Jaffa, a Zionist, brought the family from Lithuania in 1925. The father, a painter by trade, found little work there and could not make a living. The family subsequently left Palestine and returned to Lithuania. Jaffa eventually found a job in Paris in 1931. In 1940, Paris fell to Nazi Germany. At the age of thirteen, Theo Tobiasse showed an interest in art. Government art schools were closed to Jews and as a result, Theo registered for nine months in a costly private school. About this time, the Nazi roundup of French Jews began. With the help and support of the Christian concierge, Theo and his family lived in hiding for two years, until France was liberated on August 25, 1944. During this period Theo spent his time reading books and drawing.

In the post-war period, Tobiasse developed skills as a successful commercial artist. He ultimately abandoned this profession to devote all his time to painting. Tobiasse's style of painting is highly sophisticated. His technique is a painterly blend of surrealism, expressionism, and modern primitivism. His themes are literary, often biblical, and at times, erotic. His paintings seem to transcend history - fusing dreams, mythologies, biblical stories and his own past - into rich metaphors for the world of the present.

Since 1961, Tobiasse has received increasing recognition with one man shows in New York, Paris, Caracas, Tel Aviv, and Tokyo. An internationally acclaimed artist, Tobiasse's works are included in numerous private, corporate and museum collections worldwide. His most recent exhibition was held at the museum of Saint Paul de Vence, France, in 1998.