Art and designיעקב דורצ'ין

Ya'acov Dorchin

Ya'acov Dorchin is an Israeli sculptor and painter known for his iron sculptures, and he received the Israel Prize for the visual arts in 2011.

born 1946Iron and metal sculptureIsrael at the 1990 Venice BiennaleTeaching art at University of Haifa

Born: 12 March 1946, Haifa
Occupation: sculptor, painter, pedagogue

Ya'acov Dorchin was born in 1946 in Haifa

Dorchin was born in Haifa on 12 March 1946. His father Aharon was a carpenter and his mother was Rivka. In 1958 the family moved to Kibbutz Ramat David.

He served in the Paratroopers Brigade and then lived in Kiryat Tivon. In 1967 he joined Kibbutz Kfar HaHoresh, where he still lives with his family.

With help from painter Yair Garbuz, he began showing his work in Tel Aviv, with a first group show in 1968 and a first solo show in 1969. After a fire destroyed his studio in 1970, he went to Germany, met Joseph Beuys, and turned more to sculpture and drawing. From the 1980s he made large iron works, and in 1990 he represented Israel at the Venice Biennale.

He taught at Oranim College from 1978 to 1986 and began teaching at the University of Haifa in 1991, later heading its art department and becoming a full professor in 2007. He was artistic director of the Basis art school until it closed in 2020. The Tel Aviv Museum of Art held a retrospective of his work in 2009.