Tepler Shmuel, Painter. born1918, Poland. Immigrated to Israel 1949.
Lived and worked in Tel Aviv. Died 1998.

Shmuel Tepler was born in Hrubieszaw, Poland, to an orthodox Jewish family.
A Holocaust survivor, after the war he settled in Tel Aviv; he died there on 18 July 1998.
His work has won international renown and appreciation.
He began his studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Stefan Batory University in Vilnius, where he was taught by an outstanding painter, professor Ludomir Slendziski.
During World War II he found himself in the Soviet Union. After his return to Poland, in 1945 he left for Italy, where he continued his studies at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan. His teachers there included Carlo Carra, Aldo Carpi, and Aldo Salvadori.
He graduated in 1949 and presented his first one-man show, which was well received.
Despite this, at the end of 1949 he left Italy for Israel. Samuel Tepler enjoyed success both in Israel and abroad, particularly in Italy, where he frequently returned, and where his work won prizes and critical acclaim.

Studies

High School of Art, Vilnius
Brera Academie, Milan, with Carlo Carrera.
Worked as teacher.

Prizes

1961 Histadrut Prize
1974 Legion D'oro Medal (Gold Medal), UNESCO
1975 Italia Prize for Art
1975 Accepted as member of Italian Academy. 

Solo Exhibitions

2015 Shmuel Tepler, Bar-David Museum of Jewish Art, Kibbutz Bara'am
1996 Shmuel Tepler - Drawings, Peer Fine Art Gallery, Tel Aviv
1992 Tepler, Hamishkan Le'omanut, Beth Meirov, Holon
         Tepler, Ephrat Gallery, Tel Aviv
1988 Tepler, Gordon Gallery, Tel Aviv
1986 Kerem Hatyemanim Quarter (Yemenite Vineyard), Sharet Gallery, Givatayim
         Samuel Tepler- Oil Paintings, Ella Gallery, Jerusalem
         Bar-David Museum of Jewish Art, Kibbutz Bara'am
1983 Samuel Tepler - Oil Paintings, Ella Gallery, Jerusalem
1979 Solo Exhibition, Hillel Gallery, Jerusalem
1977 Tepler, Gordon Gallery, Tel Aviv
1976 Oil Paintings, Livak Building Art Gallery, Tel Aviv
1974 Yad Labanim Museum, Petach Tikva
          Tepler, Tzavta, Tel Aviv
1973 Oil Paintings, Livak Building Art Gallery, Tel Aviv
1971 Samuel Tepler, Il Cigno, Milano ITALY
1970 Tepler – Paintings, Chemerinsky Art Gallery, Tel Aviv
1967 Solo Exhibition, Painters and Sculptors Association in Israel, Haifa and the North
1966 The Gallery 220, Tel-Aviv
1963 Tepler, Chemerinsky Art Gallery, Tel Aviv
         Tepler – Oils, Rina Gallery, Jerusalem
1953 Katz Gallery, Tel Aviv

Group Exhibitions

2012, 2013 Group Exhibition from the Gallery Collection, Yair Art Gallery, Tel Aviv
2013 No Pretense, Yair Art Gallery, Tel Aviv
2004 Bar-David Museum of Jewish Art, Kibbutz Bara'am
1995, 1997 Homage to the Collector - Arie Dobron, Petach Tikvah Museum of Art
1993 Small Format, Hamishkan Le'omanut, Beth Meirov, Holon, Bar-David Museum of Jewish Art, Kibbutz Bara'am
1992 Small Dimensions, Zaritsky Artists House, Tel Aviv
1988 A People Build Its Land: Israeli History as Reflected in Art, Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art
1982 Yad Labanim Museum, Petach-Tikva
1979 Joint Exhibition of 16 Artist, Shamir Gallery, Tel Aviv
1969 Art Festival, Painting & Sculpture in Israel, Art Festival, Painting & Sculpture in Israel 
1967 Group exhibition with Margot Lange-Aschheim and Tova Berlinski, Jerusalem Artists' House
1967 Artists in Israel for the Defense, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Helena Rubinstein Pavilion
1967, 1965, 1963, 1962, 1960, 1959, 1956, 1955 General Exhibition, Art in Israel, Tel Aviv Art Museum
1958 Ten Years [of] Israeli Painting, Tel Aviv Art Museum
1958 First Decade Exhibition for Painting, Ramat Gan
1957 Annual Exhibition, Art in Israel, Tel Aviv Art Museum
1954 Young Israeli Painters, Tel Aviv Art Museum
1954 General Exhibition, Art in Israel, Tel Aviv Art Museum
1952 An Exhibition arranged to the Museum's 20th Anniversary, Tel Aviv Art Museum
1951 Art in Israel, Tel Aviv Art Museum. 

Shmuel (Samuel) Tepler is one of the few artists whose artistic existence takes place on two planes and who quietly and with discreet self-assurance that reaps the fruit of both orchards. He is, simultaneously, a figurative and an abstract painter. Here we find, or so it seems, one of the keys to Tepler's personality, both open and hidden. 

Tepler's spirituality stems from the facts as such. He does not need any superstructure whatsoever. Paint, pigments, their contrasts, their liquid flow, create delicate but solid harmonies that influence the viewer directly. 

Obviously, Samuel Tepler, a survivor of the Holocaust who studied painting thoroughly and seriously in Italy, and not only in Italy but specifically in Milan and at the Brera Academy - has spiritual "fathers". He continues the discoveries and the tradition of Nicolas de Stael, without following a given furrow and without imitating him in any way; for Tepler is quite incapable of imitating another painter. For Nicolas de Stael, the tension between depiction and abstractment is by no means superficial. There is, obviously, Giorgio Morandi, the genius of quintessence, and of economy of means; Samuel Tepler is spiritually of the same race - but again, his style is different. 

The theme is just a starting-point, but without this starting-point Tepler could not immerse himself in his abstract universe. This fact has importance if we try to understand this painter and his independent and obstinate way of working. The palette of Samuel Tepler is certainly daring. Comparatively dark about ten years ago, it became more sumptuous in recent years, maybe more aggressive; but an "absolute eye" for color always remained, somewhat similar to the "absolute ear" of great composers. Samuel Tepler is in love with color, he is intoxicated with color, but he is always disciplined. His composition is painstakingly planned to the last detail; it is based mostly on horizontal and diagonal lines, but with right angles. There are no sophisticated contrivances; the artist has no use for them, just as Giorgio Morandi did not need them at all. Certainly, Tepler, a Jewish artist, has expressionist elements; they are strong and persuasive, last not least because the artist imposes a strict discipline in his canvases. 

In his art we find a synthesis, fruitful and sincere, of a Jewish soul with a religious leanings (this term used in its broadest meaning), and of Italian artistic culture. Italy was the country that nourished and developed this talent. Tepler had his first one-man show in Italy, before settling in Israel, and he was highly successful in Italy during his last visit there, showing in important galleries, while significant art periodicals devoted serious essays to his art, publishing reproductions in full color. In Italy, a beautifully produced monograph with many color reproductions was published, by "Il Cigno" in Milan, with a high-level and instructive preface by the well-known art writer Mario Lepore. 

Just as he reaches a synthesis between depiction and abstraction, Tepler reaches a synthesis between daring and tradition, or if you prefer, between innovation and classicism. The feeling for planned and balanced composition stems from classical tradition; the intense and bold color scheme stems from "Fauve" tradition and from expressionism, though a moderate one. The colored defining lines are especially characteristic for a part of his later works.