W. J. Withrow, "Sorel Etrog: Sculpture", Verona, 1967, unpaginated, illustrated
While studying art at Tel Aviv’s Arts Institute for Painting and Sculpture in the 1950s, Sorel Etrog created three-dimensional paintings inspired by Cubist collage, modernist music and constructivist reliefs. In 1958, he received a scholarship to attend the Brooklyn Museum of Art School. Upon his arrival in New York City, Etrog was drawn to African and Oceanic art due to their expressive shapes and began incorporating these elements into his work. While trying to find gallery representation in New York City, Etrog befriended the prominent Jewish-Canadian art collector, Samuel J. Zacks. Zacks purchased one of Etrog’s paintings and invited him to spend the summer of 1959 on Lake Huron with him in Southampton. While on this sojourn, Etrog created his first sculptures, out of wood, plaster and later, bronze. Etrog was also becoming acquainted with the sculpture of Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Constantin Brancusi–all artists whose works were collected by Sam Zacks. The combination of these new sources of inspiration would influence Etrog’s work in the years to come.
Etrog’s first Canadian exhibition also took place in 1959, held on October 1st at Gallery Moos in Toronto. Gallery Moos gave Etrog a second exhibition in 1961, which caught the attention of the important American art collector Joseph Hirshhorn, who immediately purchased eight sculptures. This sale was unprecedented in the Canadian art world at the time and was newsworthy enough to be reported in all the major Toronto papers. Etrog’s work began to be recognized internationally as well, in part thanks to Zacks’s connections and unwavering support. In 1963, following Etrog’s first solo exhibition in New York, the Museum of Modern Art purchased "Ritual Dancer". Other casts of the sculpture edition are in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal.
