Menachem Boas

​

Menachem Boas was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1949, to a family distinguished for seven generations in its dedication to religious and secular activities. He settled in Israel in 1968 and thereafter began his studies in sofrus (the centuries-old art of scribing) in Jerusalem. In 1974-75 he continued his studies in Armentieres, France. For several years Menachem practiced as a sofer (scribe) and he also illuminated text on parchment. Then, in 1989, his love for the power and mystery of the Hebrew alphabet and the Torah inspired him to begin creating beautiful and complex paintings using the painstaking technique of color micrography.

 

Micrography, a Jewish art form developed in the ninth century, utilizes minute Hebrew letters to form representational, geometric, and abstract designs. Colored micrography is especially distinctive due to the fact that these rare artworks are customarily rendered in black and white. In micrography, the word literally becomes the vision, as thousands upon thousands of Hebrew characters blend and weave together to tell a story. Richly symbolic and steeped in the grand tradition of the Jewish heritage, this remarkable art form is both intellectually and visually stimulating.

 

In creating his paintings, Menachem Boas labored steadily for months on each image. Menachem is one of the very few micrography artists in the world to use colored and pastel metallic inks.