1948                Born in Hadera, Israel, to Abba and Vitka Kovner. Raised on Kibbutz (collective settlement) Ein-HaChoresh.

 

1954-1966     Elementary and Secondary Education on Kibbutz Ein-HaChoresh.

 

1955                 Accompanies Vitka, his mother, on a trip to Europe to meet his father who was absent from Israel for a year. A seven year old boy discovers the world of art.

 

1958                 A birthday gift of oil paints and an art lesson from his father jump starts an artistic career.

 

1964-1965      Studies painting with artist Yochanan Simon in Herzliya (a coastal town north of Tel-Aviv).

 

1966-1967      Following High School graduation, works with youth groups outside the Kibbutz.

 

1967                 During the Six-Day War (June 1967) returns to the Kibbutz to take charge, with fellow Kibbutz youth, of all agricultural work while most of the Kibbutz adults are mobilized for the war.

 

1967-1970     Military service in an elite army unit.

 

1970                Following military service travels to the USA with army buddies. Following a visit with family friends in  Los Angeles, California, makes a crucial decision to pursue art as a vocation and to take up his studies in New York rather than in Israel.

 

1970                Meets Mimi Makover, his future bride.

 

1971               Works as a security guard for Arkia Airlines while studying in evening classes at the Avni Institute.

 

1972-1975    Studies at the New York Studio School. Influenced by the teachings of Philip Guston, Jack Tworkow and 

Mercedes Mattar.

 

1973                 Returns to Israel for the Yom Kippur War (October-December 1973).

 

1974                 Despite the terrible loss of many friends during the war, comes to the painful decision to return to his studies

at the New York Studio School, and with other advanced students under the guidance of a talented young painter, Steven Sloman, forms a group that works independently, often in the countryside or at the seashore, critiquing each other’s work.

 

1975                 – Returns with Mimi to Israel (via Spain, Southern France, and Italy) and embarks on a life of an artist, albeit not                                      yet fully formulated.

                           – Mounts first exhibition of his New York works at the Jerusalem Artists’ House.

                           – Joins Bezalel Academy of Art and Design as an art instructor, and the American-Israel Cultural Foundation

                               scholarship committee.

 

1976                  Marries Mimi Makover. Jointly decide to make Jerusalem their permanent home.

 

1977                   First child is born – a son, Amikam.

                             Studies Judaism with Rabbi David Hartman at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.

 

1978-1980        Explores new artistic directions with a series of bird’s-eye-view landscapes painted from aerial photographs,

and desert vistas painted in the outdoors. Begins his relationship with the Bineth Gallery in Tel-Aviv. Mounts two successful shows at the Gallery – desert paintings and an exhibition of drawings.

 

1981                  – A second son is born, named Nimrod.

                            – Bineth Gallery exhibits a new series, “Houses in Gaza”.

                            – Exhibits in the Tel-Aviv Museum group show “Turning Point”.

                            – The Israel Museum in Jerusalem acquires a painting “House Painted with Flowers” for its collection.

 

1982-1984       Inspired by his two sons playing with the Lego building blocks,  exhibits his “Lego” series at Tel-Aviv’s Gordon

Gallery. Bineth Gallery refuses the Lego series and terminates its relation with Kovner.

 

1985                   Returns to Bineth Gallery in Tel-Aviv with an exhibition of his portraits of  wife Mimi and friend Michal.

 

1986                   Expands from his tiny studio in family residence into a more spacious work area in Jerusalem’s north eastern

neighborhood of Pisgat Zeev.

 

1988                   Exhibits at Bineth Gallery his series “Jerusalem Hills”. First major initiative of painting directly in nature.

 

1990                  – Exhibits at Bineth Gallery his follow-up series “Jerusalem Scenes”.

                            – Acquires a small two-room apartment in the Katamonim section of Jerusalem for a permanent studio space.

 

1992                  Exhibits at Bineth Gallery “A Girl in a Room”, painting his son’s young adolescent girl-friend.

 

1994                  Returns to landscape painting. Develops close friendship with artist Jan Rauchwerger. Touring together in Romania along with sculptor Zvi Lachman. Continues with Jan to London and then to Holland to view the Cezanne and Vermeer exhibits.

 

1987-1994       During this period is strongly effected by several family related tragedies, including the death of his father, poet Abba Kovner. He is thus preoccupied with death, which is fully explored in a series of paintings titled “Sataf” that have never been exhibited.

 

1995                  Bineth Gallery mounts an exhibition “End of ’95”,  an exploration of the Beit Shean Valley – its reservoirs, fishponds, birds and cows.

                            Publishes a large catalogue of works, 1985-1995.

 

1996-1997       Exhibitions in New York, Washington D.C. and in New Haven, Connecticut.

 

1998                    Michael paints the port of Ashdod together with his friend the artist Jan Rauchwerger. The paintings are exhibited in Museums in Haifa and Ashdod.

 

1999-2000        Paints the landscape of his golden childhood at Kibbutz Ein-HaChoresh – orchards, haystacks and cows. Michael called this series of paintings "Just a Weekday." His works were exhibited simultaneously in Jerusalem  and Tel Aviv. 

 

                              The book “Portscapes” was published by Mishkan Museum of art Publishing House, Ein Harod.

                              At the same time, a collection of engravings entitled "Port" was published in the Printmaking Workshop in

Jerusalem, in which a series of engravings combined with Hebrew poetry dealing with ports and shipping. Published by D.K. Graubart Publishing Ltd.

 

2000-2001         Michael returnes to the Bet-Shan valley, deals with the  relationship between water and sky and paints the fish ponds and reservoirs in a series entitled “Lakes”.                        

                              Jan Rauchwerger asks Kovner to share a studio in New York City, where he now works for three months each year.

 

2002                    Meir Ahronson, curator of The Museum of Israeli Art, Ramat Gan, suggests an exhibit of all works entitled “Landscape”.

                              In honor of this comprehensive exhibition, the museum published a large book (the green book) showing and recounting Kovner's broad artistic career from 1975 to 2001. The exhibition is retrospective and spans 3 floors of the museum. An article is being broadcast on Israeli television by Freddie Grover, which brings  crowds of people to the museum who buy the entire edition of the books, and a new edition needs to be published.

 

2002-2006         Kovner paints the sea (the Mediterranean near Netanya) where he spent his free time during his childhood and youth. Following the sea paintings, he returnes to the landscapes of his childhood in Kibbutz Ein-HaChoresh  (in Sharon near Netanya). The kibbutz paintings brought him back to the smells and sights of his childhood. The connection to the Kibbutz will be seen in different variations later.

 

In the years 2004 to 2006 he paints the landscapes of Kibbutz Beit Alfa, the kibbutz of his wife Mimi Makover, located in the Jezreel Valley at the foot of Gilboa. This is the cradle of Zionism, this fact is the core of the Zionist idea whose originators came and grew up in the valley. While painting the valley - the Tabor Wadi and Mount Tabor, he comes up with the idea to publish the trilogy "Sea, Valley, Mountain" which tells the Zionist story of fulfillment through manual labor.

 

Here it is told about the period that Michael painted in New York. From 2001 to 2013 he would travel every summer for 3 months About 13 years.

 

2001                   The painter Jan Rauchwerger invites the artists Michael, Ofer Lelosh and Zvika Lachman to share a studio with him in New York. Michael travels every summer (about two months a year) to paint in this studio that is located in Long Island City at the west end of Queens that abuts the East River. The studio had a large window on the fifth floor that what gives him the inspiration and the desire to keep coming back there. There is a smell of the Mediterranean Sea that he sees in these paintings that is so important and part of his soul.

9/1/2021          The twin disaster. Michael as usual gets up in the morning and goes to the studio and see people gathering and looking westwards. Asking what had happened, he was shown the twin buildings on fire and immediately also saw the collapse of the building. Arriving at the studio he witnessed the collapse of the other. This event had a profound effect on him and it had echoes in several from his paintings

 

2002 -2004       Michael has relation ?Work relation? with an important gallery in Manhattan (Salander O'Reilly Gallery). The gallery was closed and an expensive legal process was required to get the paintings back.

 

2007                   The first exhibition of his paintings from New York was presented at the Bineth Gallery in Tel Aviv, which was a great success.

 

2008                    Michael bought a new studio in Talpiot close to his residence in Baka. He is happy when he moves to the new studio. The dream of his life has come true.

 

2008-2009         Kovner travels with his Canvases to the south. After two years of hard work, in  front of the cliff of Nahal Tzin, in the heat and windy desert weather in Sde Boker, he presents these works at Be'er Sheva University in 2009. The exhibition named "In face of the cliff".

 

2009                     He learned from his friend the painter Yigal Ozeri, that the old building in Long  Island City, where his studio was located, was closed due to safety issues (the  building had about 200 studio spaces). He must leave the building and find him a new studio.

2009-2010         Michael moved to another studio with a friend of his son, the sculptor Avner Levinson. Together they built a studio in a two-story parking garage in the 600 block of Bushwick, Brooklyn, with the help of his eldest son Amikam, who was living in New York at that time. The space was located in a neighborhood of people living on the fringes of society. The area was desolate and neglected. The way through the Manhattan Bridge, the views from the bridge, entered his paintings. The connections with Avner developed into a long-term friendship.

 

2008-2013      Michael worked on his graphic novel "Ezekie's World". He divided his time– Between New York were he painted and in Israel were he wrote and painted the images of the graphic novel. In the studio he created colorful sketches in acrylic and at home - graphic images on the computer.

 

2010                 "Observations", a retrospective exhibition at the Artists House in Jerusalem.

                           At the same time, a book of his drawings, "Drawings of Landscapes" was published. Michael felt the need to present a large and comprehensive exhibition in Jerusalem, the city where he lives and works. Being very active (socially and politically) in his city, he felt that the city was loosing the best people with whom he was connected as a painter and friend.

 

29.5.2011       The first granddaughter Lina was born, a daughter to Norit and Amikam

 

14.2.2012        His mother Vitka Kempner passed away

 

2013                 A second exhibition of his paintings from New York was presented at the Bineth Gallery, which published an elegant book with an article by the renowned art historian Donald Cuspit.

                           At the same time, his paintings from the studio in Bushwick ​​New York were exhibited and a show was staged, both at the important Jewish Center in JCC Manhattan. The show was based on a graphic novel that Kovner wrote - "Ezekiel's World". The show and the exhibition were highly appreciated. The play was only staged once due to problems with the actors' contracts in New York.

                            Upon his return to Israel, he learned that the Bineth Gallery, with which he had worked for 34 years, had closed.

 

2012-2016      Kovner works on a series of photos that he calls "The Kibbutz Yard". Michael works in several kibbutzim and gives expression to the unique character, shape and view of the kibbutz yard. For the first time he paints in watercolors and gouache and also in small formats. During these years, he finishes writing and drawing the novel "Ezekie's World".

 

2013                  The studio in Bushwick was closed due to Avner Levinson's return to Israel and the paintings were stored in a warehouse in Staten Island, New York.

 

2014                  In the middle of that year, the Two grandchildren were born - Emmanuel (Mano) son to Norit and Amikam, and Jonathan son to Ruthi and Nimrod.

 

                            Michael agrees with the Khan Theater to put on the play "Ezekiel" based on the graphic novel he wrote. Mickey Gurvitz, the artistic director of the Khan Theater, took it upon himself to create and direct the play, but he retired and the director Roni Niño replaced him. Michael wants to publish the graphic novel "Ezekiel's World" before the premiere of the play. He is establishing "headstart" (crowdfunding) with which he will be able to produce this precious book.

 

2015                 Abba Kovner House opened on February 26 in Givat Haviva. Michael worked on this for about a year in collaboration with "Moreshet – Mordechai Anilevich International Center for Holocaust Documentation, Research and Teaching". The exhibition presents the life history of Abba Kovner through paintings, reading passages and videos and a restoration of Abba Kovner's study and living Room. The exhibition presents Kovner's work as a poet and an inspiring spirit. The exhibition also presents the story of his wife, Vitka Kempner-Kovner, who was also a fighter and partisan in the Vilnius Ghetto and the Rudniki Forests.

 

19.5.2015         The premiere "Ezekiel" is staged at the Khan Theater. The show ran until the end of July 2016, two and a half seasons, and received many positive reviews. The play was taken down because the religious representative in the Jerusalem Municipality claimed that it defamed IDF soldiers. At the same time,  "Ezekiel's World" the graphic novel is published by "Kohel", Jerusalem

 

2015                   Michael buys a large space in south Tel Aviv and together with his good friend the sculptor Avner Levinson (with whom he shared the studio in Bushwick), they establish "Gallery Maya". The purpose of the gallery is to expose young artists to the general public.

27.8.2018         Granddaughter Romi was born, a daughter to Nimrod and Ruthi

 

June 2019         Michael participates in a large exhibition in Kanst Museum Bochum, Germany, with 6 Israeli and Palestinian artists on the topic of "family stories". Michael exhibits on an entire floor in the museum. The main part of the exhibition is images from the book  "Ezekiel's World".

 

2020        A large exhibition "Double Beam Mirrors"  at Mishkan Museum of art, Ein Harod.

                  Curator Galia Bar Or combines works drawn from the graphic novel "Ezekiel's World" and the kibbutzim landscapes.The exhibition received in an extraordinary way both by the general public and by the critics, but the Covid virus interrupts it at the height of success. Open and close the exhibition alternately. Michael is happy with success but feels the taste of missing out because of the Covid epidemic.

                   

2022          Amon Yariv, owner of the Gordon Gallery, turns to Michael and offers him to open a first solo exhibition for the new gallery he is opening in Jerusalem. The offer is very flattering. After Bineth Gallery closed, Michael is working without a gallery, which bothers him a lot. He has known Amon for many years and always wanted to be presented by him. Right now the gate is opening to a new relationship with a very important and valued gallery. The exhibition that opens the gallery in Jerusalem called "Museum Visit" (Israel Museum)

 

2023       "Boshwick 600". The exhibition opens in the fall at the Gordon Gallery in Tel Aviv. In the exhibition is a selection of the paintings that Michael brought in the summer of 2023 from the warehouse in Staten Island, New York.

 

                  During the Covid pandemic, Michael started to paint dancers. He created a series of paintings, mostly were taken from a video work he saw online. One of the choreographies he fell in love with her work was Hannah Dennison from Vermont and over time a good connection was made and she purchased several paintings from this series and exhibited them at the Kenneth Museum in Vermont.

 

2024        Group exhibition at the Kenneth Museum in Vermont, USA. The exhibition was inspired by Hana Dennison's dance work on an artificial lake: "Quarry Project: Echoes in the Crater".

 

2024        In September, another exhibition by Michael opens at the Gordon Gallery in Jerusalem "Sinkholes - The Dead Sea 2024-2022". Michael painted for long periods in the Dead Sea Valley in the Daraja area. In the Dead Sea, it is impossible to paint outdoors for most time of the year because of the extreme heat. Michael developed a new style of work. He made drawings and small water paintings and then worked from these sketches in the studio. On the one hand, this gives him more freedom, but on the other hand, to a certain extent, it alienates him from being in nature, which he loves so much. The exhibition was presented during the ongoing Iron Sword War and causes severe distress for Michael and the general public.