Shemuel Katz
Encyclopedia
For the writer and MK, see Shmuel Katz (politician).
Shmuel Katz (August 18, 1926 – March 26, 2010) was an Israeli artist
, illustrator
, and cartoonist
. A Holocaust survivor and postwar immigrant to Mandate Palestine via the detention camps on Cyprus
, he figured prominently in Israeli illustration and newspaper cartooning, widely exhibiting and publishing his drawings and paintings at home and abroad, for which he won numerous local and international awards. His sketches and watercolors are known for their sprightly lines and touches of humor.
, Austria, to parents of Hungarian origin
. Following the Anschluss
, Austria’s annexation by Nazi Germany in March 1938, the family relocated to Hungary
. He attended school, studied the piano, and became a member of the Zionist youth movement
HaNoar HaTzioni
. After the Nazi invasion of Hungary in 1944, he was deported to a forced labor camp in Yugoslavia
from which he escaped to Budapest
where he was among the thousands of Jews hidden in the "Glass House
" shelter operated by Swiss
diplomat Carl Lutz
, until the arrival of the Soviet Red Army
in mid-February 1945.
. He began studying architecture there in the Budapest University of Technology and Economics
. In 1946, in the framework of the Aliyah Bet illegal immigration, he sailed aboard the Knesset Israel which was apprehended by the British and its passengers interned in a detention camp on Cyprus
.
In 1947, Katz secured a legal immigration certificate as a member of the “First of May
” nucleus group of Hashomer Hatzair. The group did its pioneering training at Kibbutz Eilon
on the Lebanese border, and on October 8, 1948, became the founders of Kibbutz Ga'aton
in the Western Galilee, where Katz spent the rest of his life. He designed the kibbutz dining room whose interior features Hungarian folkloristic wood carving.
party’s newspaper, Al HaMishmar.
In 1953–1954, he enrolled in the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts
in Paris
, France
, where he studied lithography
, copperplate etching, fresco
, and music, and toured the lands of Western Europe.
In 1955, he joined the editorial board of Al HaMishmar as illustrator and graphics editor.
In 1958, he traveled through East Africa, a journey whose impressions influenced his artistic and technical style and led to the 1962 publication of A Journey to the Land of Kush together with author Nathan Shaham
. In 1976 he visited Iran, and the following November in Tehran
exhibited artworks featuring Iran and Jerusalem.
In 1979, Katz paid two visits to Egypt
with the “Autonomy” delegation and was granted a private interview with Egyptian president Anwar Sadat
. In 1983, he visited Hungary as a member of a delegation from Peace Now.
Shemuel Katz’s artworks have been exhibited extensively in Israel and abroad. His watercolors of Jerusalem have been reproduced as posters and postcards. His courtroom sketches of Adolf Eichmann’s trial in Jerusalem, 1961, are held in the art collection of Yad Vashem
, Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Authority. As an artist in the IDF
, he sketched soldiers on guard and at war.
Katz is well known as the illustrator of hundreds of books, especially for Sifriat Poalim, the Kibbutz Artzi movement's publishing house. Especially popular are his illustrated classics of Israeli children’s literature, such as Igeal Mozinsohn’s Hasamba series and poet Leah Goldberg
’s Flat for Rent, whose cover art was used for a postage stamp.
Katz published editorial cartoons and illustrations in the Israeli dailies Al HaMishmar, and Maariv
, the weekly kibbutz
supplement of the mass-circulation Yedioth Aharonoth, as well as the Swiss satirical periodical, Nebelspalter.
Katz died of a stroke aged 83 in hospital in Nahariya
, Israel. He is survived by his wife Naomi and two daughters, one of whom, Yael, is married to leftist politician Dov Khenin
.
Shmuel Katz (August 18, 1926 – March 26, 2010) was an Israeli artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
, and cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
. A Holocaust survivor and postwar immigrant to Mandate Palestine via the detention camps on Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
, he figured prominently in Israeli illustration and newspaper cartooning, widely exhibiting and publishing his drawings and paintings at home and abroad, for which he won numerous local and international awards. His sketches and watercolors are known for their sprightly lines and touches of humor.
Youth and the Holocaust
Shmuel Alexander (Sandor) Katz was born in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria, to parents of Hungarian origin
History of the Jews in Hungary
Hungarian Jews have existed since at least the 11th century. After struggling against discrimination throughout the Middle Ages, by the early 20th century the community grew to be 5% of Hungary's population , and were prominent in science, the arts and business...
. Following the Anschluss
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
, Austria’s annexation by Nazi Germany in March 1938, the family relocated to Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
. He attended school, studied the piano, and became a member of the Zionist youth movement
Zionist youth movement
A Zionist youth movement is an organization formed for Jewish children and adolescents for educational, social, and ideological development, including a belief in Jewish nationalism as represented in the State of Israel...
HaNoar HaTzioni
Hanoar Hatzioni
Hanoar Hatzioni is a youth movement established in 1926, with its head offices now in Israel. Its three main pillars are Judaism, Pluralism, and Zionism...
. After the Nazi invasion of Hungary in 1944, he was deported to a forced labor camp in Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
from which he escaped to Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
where he was among the thousands of Jews hidden in the "Glass House
Glass House (Budapest)
During the Holocaust, the Swiss diplomat Carl Lutz helped Jews in Budapest in many ways, including protection at the legendary Glass House . At one time, about 3,000 Jews found refuge at the Glass House and in a neighboring building from large numbers of Hungarian fascist, antisemitic murderers and...
" shelter operated by Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
diplomat Carl Lutz
Carl Lutz
Carl Lutz was the Swiss Vice-Consul in Budapest, Hungary from 1942 until the end of World War II. He helped save tens of thousands of Jews from deportation to Nazi Extermination camps during the Holocaust. He is credited with saving over 62,000 Jews...
, until the arrival of the Soviet Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
in mid-February 1945.
Postwar activity and immigration to Mandate Palestine
In Budapest, Katz joined the youth movement Hashomer HatzairHashomer Hatzair
Hashomer Hatzair is a Socialist–Zionist youth movement founded in 1913 in Galicia, Austria-Hungary, and was also the name of the group's political party in the Yishuv in the pre-1948 British Mandate of Palestine...
. He began studying architecture there in the Budapest University of Technology and Economics
Budapest University of Technology and Economics
The Budapest University of Technology and Economics , in hungarian abbreviated as BME, English official abbreviation BUTE, is the most significant University of Technology in Hungary and is also one of the oldest Institutes of Technology in the world, having been founded in 1782.-History:BME is...
. In 1946, in the framework of the Aliyah Bet illegal immigration, he sailed aboard the Knesset Israel which was apprehended by the British and its passengers interned in a detention camp on Cyprus
Cyprus internment camps
Cyprus internment camps were camps run by the British government for internment of Jews who had immigrated or attempted to immigrate to Mandatory Palestine in violation of British policy...
.
In 1947, Katz secured a legal immigration certificate as a member of the “First of May
International Workers' Day
International Workers' Day is a celebration of the international labour movement and left-wing movements. It commonly sees organized street demonstrations and marches by working people and their labour unions throughout most of the world. May 1 is a national holiday in more than 80 countries...
” nucleus group of Hashomer Hatzair. The group did its pioneering training at Kibbutz Eilon
Eilon
Eilon is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located a mile south of Lebanese border and six miles east of the Mediterranean coast, the kibbutz sits on a ridge between two streams, Nahal Betzet and Nahal Kziv and falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Asher Regional Council...
on the Lebanese border, and on October 8, 1948, became the founders of Kibbutz Ga'aton
Ga'aton
Ga'aton is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located in the western Galilee, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Asher Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 409....
in the Western Galilee, where Katz spent the rest of his life. He designed the kibbutz dining room whose interior features Hungarian folkloristic wood carving.
Career
During the years 1950–1953 Shemuel Katz illustrated Mishmar Layeladim, the weekly children’s supplement to the MapamMapam
Mapam was a political party in Israel and is one of the ancestors of the modern-day Meretz party.-History:Mapam was formed by a January 1948 merger of the Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party and Ahdut HaAvoda Poale Zion Movement. The party was originally Marxist-Zionist in its outlook and represented...
party’s newspaper, Al HaMishmar.
In 1953–1954, he enrolled in the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts
École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts
The École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts is the distinguished National School of Fine Arts in Paris, France.The École des Beaux-arts is made up of a vast complex of buildings located at 14 rue Bonaparte, between the quai Malaquais and the rue Bonaparte, in the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Près,...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, where he studied lithography
Lithography
Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface...
, copperplate etching, fresco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
, and music, and toured the lands of Western Europe.
In 1955, he joined the editorial board of Al HaMishmar as illustrator and graphics editor.
In 1958, he traveled through East Africa, a journey whose impressions influenced his artistic and technical style and led to the 1962 publication of A Journey to the Land of Kush together with author Nathan Shaham
Nathan Shaham
-Biography:Born in Tel Aviv, Shaham has been a member of Kibbutz Beit Alfa since 1945, and served with the Palmach in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. He is the son of Eliezer Steinman, the Hebrew author and essayist....
. In 1976 he visited Iran, and the following November in Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
exhibited artworks featuring Iran and Jerusalem.
In 1979, Katz paid two visits to Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
with the “Autonomy” delegation and was granted a private interview with Egyptian president Anwar Sadat
Anwar Sadat
Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat was the third President of Egypt, serving from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 October 1981...
. In 1983, he visited Hungary as a member of a delegation from Peace Now.
Shemuel Katz’s artworks have been exhibited extensively in Israel and abroad. His watercolors of Jerusalem have been reproduced as posters and postcards. His courtroom sketches of Adolf Eichmann’s trial in Jerusalem, 1961, are held in the art collection of Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem is Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, established in 1953 through the Yad Vashem Law passed by the Knesset, Israel's parliament....
, Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Authority. As an artist in the IDF
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
, he sketched soldiers on guard and at war.
Katz is well known as the illustrator of hundreds of books, especially for Sifriat Poalim, the Kibbutz Artzi movement's publishing house. Especially popular are his illustrated classics of Israeli children’s literature, such as Igeal Mozinsohn’s Hasamba series and poet Leah Goldberg
Leah Goldberg
Leah Goldberg was a prolific Hebrew poet, author, playwright, literary translator, and comparative literary researcher. Her writings are considered classics of Israeli literature and remain very popular among Hebrew speaking Israelis.-Biography:...
’s Flat for Rent, whose cover art was used for a postage stamp.
Katz published editorial cartoons and illustrations in the Israeli dailies Al HaMishmar, and Maariv
Maariv
Maariv is a Hebrew language daily newspaper published in Israel. It is second in sales after Yedioth Ahronoth and third in readership after Yedioth Ahronoth and Israel HaYom. In a TGI survey comparing the last half of 2009 with the same period in 2008, Maariv saw its market share fall slightly...
, the weekly kibbutz
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
supplement of the mass-circulation Yedioth Aharonoth, as well as the Swiss satirical periodical, Nebelspalter.
Katz died of a stroke aged 83 in hospital in Nahariya
Nahariya
Nahariya is the northernmost coastal city in Israel, with an estimated population of 51,200.-History:Nahariya was founded by German Jewish immigrants from the Fifth Aliyah in the 1930s...
, Israel. He is survived by his wife Naomi and two daughters, one of whom, Yael, is married to leftist politician Dov Khenin
Dov Khenin
Dov Khenin is an Israeli political-scientist, lawyer, and member of the Knesset for the leftist Hadash party. He is a member of the central committee of Maki , an activist for socio-economic equality and an environmentalist...
.
Awards and honors
- 1959 – Medal at the International Exhibition of Book Art, LeipzigLeipzigLeipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... - 1961 – First prize in Drawing and Watercolor of the Biennale for Young Artists, ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... - 1974 – Nordau Prize for Art, Tel AvivTel AvivTel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
, Israel - 1985 – Nachum Gutman Memorial Award of the Tel Aviv municipality
- 1997 – International Award for Caricature, Budapest, Hungary
- 2006 – “Dosh” Memorial Award for Caricature, Einav Center, Tel Aviv
- 2007 – First “Golden Pencil” Award of the Israeli Museum of Caricature and Comic Art, Holon, Israel