From Prisoner of Zion to Painter
Sylva Zalmanson's
Paintings Exhibition
Exhibition opening event including the screening of the documentary "Operation Wedding" followed by an open discussion with Sylva Zalmanson.
10% of all sales will be donated to clubs for children with special needs
מועדון 50 פלוס מציגים תערוכת ציורים של סילווה זלמנסון.
אוצרת התערוכה, חוה נבו:
סילווה היא אמנית פיגורטיבית ריאליסטית נפלאה המציירת דיוקנאות של דמויות ברגישות רבה המזכירות את ציוריו של רמברנדט.
את כמיהתה לחופש ולשחרור ניתן לראות בסדרת הרקדניות שנעות בתנועה חופשית.
בציוריה הרבים יש קסם מיוחד השובה את העין.
Wednesday 19.OCT.2022 at 18:30
50 plus club, Elkana
The exhibition can also be visited on the dates:
29.SEP.22-01.FEB.23
Sunday 19:30-22:00
Monday & Wednesday 8:00-12:30
Tuesday 16:00-22:00
Sylva Zalmanson's paintings can be interpreted as a symbolic expression of freedom. Today Sylva lives in Israel and was recently awarded a badge of honor in the Knesset and also in the Jerusalem Post's 2019 list of Russian-speaking Jews who shaped Israel in Zionism. 50 years ago she made headlines as a prisoner of Zion, whose courage, determination, defiance and unwavering honor, even while in captivity, made her a symbol of freedom and faith. Born in 1944, Sylva grew up in a Zionist family in Riga, Latvia, then part of the USSR. At the age of 25, in 1970, after being refused twice for permission to leave the USSR, Sylva was arrested together with her then-new husband Edward Kuznetsov, her two brothers and 12 other Zionist activists, by the KGB, in an attempt to escape from the USSR, bound for Israel. The affair is also known as "The First Leningrad Trial" or "Operation Wedding"; a code name for a plan that was to take an empty plane and fly beyond the borders of the USSR. Young, fearless, and the only woman on trial, Sylva declared: "Even here, in the trial, I still believe that one day I will make it to Israel. Next year in Jerusalem!"
Sylva's sentence was 10 years in prison in a labor camp, but thanks to world pressure, and a secret exchange deal with a Soviet spy, Sylva was released after 4 years in prison and made Aliyah in 1974.
Sylva Zalmanson began painting in 1992 alongside her work as a mechanical engineer in the aerospace industry. In 1997, Sylva was accepted as a member of the Society of Painters and Sculptors. Zalmanson participated in many exhibitions in Israel and abroad; she presented about 35 solo exhibitions and many more group exhibitions in Israel and around the world. She participated in television programs, radio and was interviewed in the press. Sylva's works have been purchased for private collections in Israel, USA, Great Britain, France, Finland, Russia and Latvia. The artist and art critic Pesach Selvosky wrote about Sylva's paintings in the art magazine "Studio":
Rembrandt's special sensitivity to the figures and people he painted is an innate quality… In Israel, to the best of my knowledge, one can discover a similar, Rembrandt-like sensitivity in the artist Sylva Zalmanson.