Elias Newman was a friend of Maloree’s grandfather and that is how we were able to meet this early Israeli artist.

Mr. Newman was born in Poland in 1903 and immigrated with his family to New York when he was 10. He studied for two years at the National Academy of Design in Manhattan, then at the Educational Alliance Art School on the Lower East Side, where he later taught. Moses Soyer and Chaim Gross were among his classmates there.

In 1925, Mr. Newman visited a brother who lived in Jerusalem. He stayed in what was then called Palestine for two years, mingling with local and emigre artists and painting the city and the surrounding countryside, paying particular attention to the astringent brilliance of desert light. He made many return trips, was active in art developments in the new state of Israel, and exhibited in both Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv.

After studying in Paris at the Academie Chaumiere in 1929, he settled in Manhattan where he married Judith Tesser. They spent summers on Cape Anne in Massachusetts, where Mr. Newman ran his own seasonal art school at Rockport from 1951 to 1964. The subjects of his paintings, in oil, gouache and encaustic as well as in watercolor, alternated between New England landscapes and expressionist-tinged biblical and Hebraic themes.

1999-02-04 04:00:00 PDT New York -- Elias Newman, a painter active in New York and Israel and best known for his watercolor landscapes, died Tuesday at Beekman Hospital in Manhattan. He was 95 and lived in Manhattan.

Mr. Newman was born in Poland in 1903 and immigrated with his family to New York when he was 10. He studied for two years at the National Academy of Design in Manhattan, then at the Educational Alliance Art School on the Lower East Side, where he later taught. Moses Soyer and Chaim Gross were among his classmates there.

In 1925, Mr. Newman visited a brother who lived in Jerusalem. He stayed in what was then called Palestine for two years, mingling with local and emigre artists and painting the city and the surrounding countryside, paying particular attention to the astringent brilliance of desert light.

He made many return trips, was active in art developments in the new state of Israel, and exhibited in both Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv.

After studying in Paris at the Academie Chaumiere in 1929, he settled in Manhattan where he married Judith Tesser. They spent summers on Cape Anne in Massachusetts, where Mr. Newman ran his own seasonal art school at Rockport from 1951 to 1964. The subjects of his paintings, in oil, gouache and encaustic as well as in watercolor, alternated between New England landscapes and expressionist-tinged biblical and Hebraic themes.

He showed regularly at the Babcock Gallery in Manhattan, as well as in Baltimore, Washington, Boston and Atlanta. His work is in several museum collections in the United States and Israel.