Sonia Natra

Additional info:

Sonia Natra was born in Bucharest in 1925 and trained as a sculptor under Corneliu Medrea, Constantin Baraschi, and Boris Caragea at the Institute of Fine Arts in Bucharest, graduating in 1954. Her early work emerged within the context of socialist realism, yet her approach soon revealed a distinct autonomy of form. The act of modelling - central to her practice - shaped both her sculptural production and her later ceramic reliefs. After receiving the sculpture prize at the Moscow exhibition in 1957, she emigrated to Israel in 1961 with her husband, the composer Sergiu Natra. Settled in Tel Aviv, Natra developed a multifaceted career encompassing sculpture, painting, ceramics, and poetry. Her first solo exhibition took place in 1969, followed by numerous shows in Israel, the United States, and France. As a professor at several Israeli art institutions, she contributed to shaping a generation of artists while continuing to work across media. Her ceramic reliefs for public spaces in Jerusalem and Haifa articulate a synthesis of tactile materiality and architectural rhythm, evoking a continuity between fine and applied arts. Natra’s sculptures and ceramic panels display an introspective sensibility balanced by structural clarity. The plastic energy of her forms reflects both disciplined training in modelling and a sustained interest in the expressive potential of matter. Works held today in museums and private collections in Romania, Israel, Italy, France, and the United States attest to an artistic trajectory that bridges geographies while remaining anchored in a rigorous sculptural language.