Yeshayahu Sheinfeld

Sheinfeld was born in Bessarabia and in 1929 he emigrated to Mandate Palestine. He first resided in Magdiel, then in 1941 relocated to Petach Tikva where he found employment as a stonecutter and a road worker. In 1947, he established his own stonecutting factory which in time became one of the biggest quarries in Israel, producing thousands of tons of materials daily for the Israeli construction and road industry.

It was only in 1969 at age 60, that Scheinfeld first took up a paintbrush. In his first year, unwilling to reveal the need for self-expression, Scheinfeld worked surreptitiously in the early mornings or late nights - when no one was about.

Just a year later, in 1970, after a successful group exhibition in the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Scheinfeld was recognized as one of the striking artists on the local Naïve art scene. Although his usual subject matter was the scenery of the land of Israel, Scheinfeld introduced the landscape using a mosaic pattern, something that had become his unique artistic signature. While Scheinfeld's favorite media were tempera and ink on board, he also worked in various others including acrylic on canvas and board, etching with hand-painted colors, mixed-media collage and even weaving.

Between 1971 and 1975, Scheinfeld gained a wide international recognition and his artworks were exhibited not only in Israel, but also in Europe and in North and South America. In 1975, Scheinfeld's colorful pen-and-ink artwork ‘Aqueduct’ was featured in UNICEF’s New Year Round collection.[1]

Although Scheinfeld had only a short ten-year career as an artist, in 2004 he was recognized by INSITA, the International Triennial congress of Naïve self-taught Art, as one of the four exceptional artists who played a major role in the international context of 20th century art.[2]

• Petach-Tikva Museum of Art, Petach-Tikva, Israel
• The President's Residence, Jerusalem, Israel
• Stadshof Nijmegen, The Netherlands[3]
• Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia[4]
• Musee d’Art spontane, Bruxelles, Belgium[5]
• Musea Oost-Vlaanderen in Evolutie (MovE) Gent, Belgium[6]
• Museum of La Creation Franche Begles, France[7]
• The Magnes Collection of Jewish art and life, Berkeley University of California, United States
• Gallery of International Naive Art (GINA), Tel Aviv, Israel[8]

• Tidhar, David (1947). "Yeshayahu (Shayke) Sheinfeld" ישעיהו (שייקה) שינפלד. Encyclopedia of the Founders and Builders of Israel (in Hebrew). 19. Estate of David Tidhar and Touro College Libraries. p. 5602.