Isaac Frenel (Alexander Frenkel) was born in 1899 in Odessa, Russia; a great grandson of the famed Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berdichev. In 1917 he studied under Alexandra Ekster at the Art Academy in Odessa, before immigrating to Israel in 1919 as part of the first settlers of the third Aliya. In 1920, he established the artists’ cooperative in HaTomer in Jaffa; as well as an artists’ studio in Herzilya.
Later that year Frenel traveled to Paris where he studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and at the Grande Chaumiere at the studio of the sculptor Bourdelle and at the studio of the painter Matisse. One of the most important Jewish artists of the Ecole de Paris, his contemporaries included the likes of Soutine, Modigliani, Kikoine, Kremegne, Mane-Katz and Paskin.
Returning to Israel in 1925, Frenel opened the studio of painting arts of the Histradut in Tel Aviv. His students included Holtzman, Levanon, Hendler, Kossonogi, Tajar. Berger and Shtenzel. He also provided guidance to Bezalel students Stemastky, Streichman, Castel, Fein, Aroch and Avni. Frenel’s paintings favor the abstract contemporary influences he had adopted during his years in Paris, rather than following the “Orientalist” trend then popular in Israel.
After a five-year stay in Paris, Frenel made Safed his home in 1934, well before the establishment of the Artists Colony. Among his numerous prizes and accomplishments are his participation at the first and second Biennal in Venice in 1950.
In 1973, a museum of his works was opened at his house in Safed. In 1979, he had a one-man show at the famous Orangerie in Paris. He died in Tel Aviv in 1981, and was buried in Safed.