Portrait of the Prophet Nathan. A fierce bust portrait. Pastel on board

Abel Pann (Pfeffermann) was born in Latvia in 1883. In 1903, he moved to Paris to study at the art academy of Grande Chaumiere. His teachers there were Adolphe William Bourguereau and Yehuda Pen. In 1913 he moved to Palestine and taught at the Bezalel Academy of Art. In his art, Abel Pann particularly focused upon Biblical themes, primarily using pastel colors. The innovation of his work was that he viewed the Bible realistically - portraying the people and landscapes as being specifically of the Near East. Pann died in Jerusalem in 1963. His work today occupies a central place among the master-artist of early-Modern Eretz Israel