Menashe Kadishman - Telephone Pages (Commissioned for Menashe Blatman)

Artist: Menashe Kadishman (1932–2015)
Technique: Mixed technique on lithography and telephone directory page
Dimensions: 55.5 x 75.5 cm
Status: Signed by the artist
About the Artwork:
This Menashe Kadishman original is a rare and deeply personal conceptual work from the 1970s. The piece belongs to Kadishman's renowned "Telephone Pages" series, where he used a lithographic image of the Israel Museum (Jerusalem Museum) and layered it over an original New York telephone directory page.
The true significance of this Menashe Kadishman work lies in its history: it was commissioned personally for his close friend, the art collector Menashe Blatman. At the bottom, the artist added a raw, soulful portrait of Blatman during his service in the Yom Kippur War. Furthermore, this Menashe Kadishman piece showcases his legendary wit; he circled a small tear in the paper and added a handwritten note: "Medium Tear" (קרע בינוני)—a playful irony directed at museum conservation jargon.