Ruth Zarfati

Her first illustrations were for a book by Haim Hazaz. In 2004, a “story garden” was inaugurated in the city of Holon, where Ruth set up a colorful procession of large figures from “Dodi Simcha.” It was the artist's last major sculptural project.

Watercolor landscape paintings constitute the largest portion of her paintings and most of them are the result of her impressions of the sites she visited in Israel and abroad. During her visit to Greece, she was particularly fascinated by the white village houses and their courtyards, whose depictions are among the most beautiful in her paintings. Some of the paintings from 2000–2001 depict the landscapes of the Yarkon Park, and in her later years she often painted imaginative landscapes.

Ruth reiterated that her illustrations are paintings for everything. Indeed, in the title pages of the books there are no references to illustrations; only paintings are mentioned in them. Ruth's book paintings were made in a wide variety of techniques and styles. These ranged from linear drawings of an illustrative nature, to colorful paintings that are close in spirit to landscape paintings, and her character paintings, similar to Jehoash Bieber's 1988 “Parasols on the Street of Prophets.”

In later years, baby sculptures appeared again, depicting the artist's grandchildren: Tal (born 1986) and Tom (born 1995). These sculptures emphasize the combination of the erupting vitality of the little creature and the clumsiness of its movements. Her sculpture "The Baby,” in the collection of the Tel Aviv Museum, is one of the most beautiful works by Tzarfati.

Ruth's sculptural work includes a variety of themes; Babies and children, figures of girls and women, torso sculptures, portraits and more. The baby sculptures of Ruth Tzarfati are a division of unique importance in the entirety of her work "Unparalleled in Israeli Sculpture." Professor Avraham Ronen remarked, "The baby sculptures first appeared in the late fifties after the birth of her daughter Hagit at The 35th Venice International Art Festival in 1970.” In 1975, she presented female torso sculptures inspired by the remains of ancient Greek sculptures in a solo exhibition at the Tel Aviv Museum.

In 1958, the couple’s only child was born. Five years later, the family moved to Tel Aviv.

In 1941–1945, in parallel with her studies at the "New High School,” Zarfati took art lessons with the painter Aharon Avni at what later became the Avni Institute. In 1945, after graduating high school and before her enlistment, she became a student of sculptor Moshe Sternshus (1903-1992), whom she married in 1949.

After studying, Ruth chose sculpture as her main medium, remarking, "Sculpture is the most serious thing I have,” at the opening of her exhibition at the Klatchkin Gallery. Throughout her artistic career, Ruth continued to focus on sculpture, but did not abandon painting. In the late 1940s, Ruth began to formulate her personal artistic style, making a name for herself as an independent and original artist. In 1949, she and husband Moshe Sternshus joined the New Horizons group, an association inspired by the European artistic avant-garde movement that sought to promote the creation of modern art in the country. Ruth, the only woman and also the youngest in the group, only 21 years old, was a member of the association's committee and participated in most of the group's exhibitions presented from 1949–1959. While maintaining her personal character, she remained faithful throughout her years of artistry to the heritage of figurative sculpture and its main subject - the human figure. From the very beginning, the young artist's works attracted the attention of Haim Gamzo. She was the only sculptor whose work was included in his book on painting and sculpture in Israel, and he remained a loyal fan of her work in the years that followed.

Ruth Zarfati-Sternschuss (Hebrew: רות צרפתי-שטרנשוס; April 17, 1928 – February 27, 2010) was an Israeli painter, sculptor and illustrator. She was a member of the Ofakim Hadashim art movement.