Portrait Israel


Jussuf Abbo, originally Jussuff Abbu, was a Palestinian-Jewish artist active mainly in Germany.
In 1937 in Germany his work had been branded as "Degenerate Art" and removed from all public museums. Much of the work removed was later destroyed by the Nazi regime.


Tamam Al-Akhal is a Palestinian artist and educator living in Jordan. She studied at the Fine Arts College in Cairo. From 1957 to 1960, she taught art at the Makassed Girls College in Beirut. In 1959, she married Ismail Shammout. Al-Akhal has exhibited in Egypt, Lebanon, Jerusalem, Jordan, the United States, Kuwait, England, China, Morocco, Berlin, Paris, Rome, and Vienna. She gave a series of lectures at the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts in 2009. Her art appeared on more than a dozen covers of Palestinian Affairs, a magazine published by the Palestine Liberation Organization. She was also head of the PLO's Arts and Heritage section. With her husband, she painted a series of large murals known as "Palestine: The Exodus and the Odyssey."


Avigdor Arikha (Hebrew: אביגדור אריכא) was a Romanian-born French–Israeli artist, printmaker and art historian.
Arikha painted directly from the subject in natural light only, using no preliminary drawing, finishing a painting, pastel, print, ink, or drawing in one session. His profound knowledge of art techniques and masterly draughtsmanship enabled him to abide by this principle of immediacy, partly inspired by Chinese brush painting.


Leonid Fyodorovich Balaklav (Russian: Леонид Фёдорович Балаклав) is a Soviet and contemporary Israeli artist. He is known as a painter, graphic artist and cartoonist.
Leonid Balaklav began his career in Kishinev, then moved to Kiev, where he worked on scientific films. In 1987 at the Tokyo Film Festival he was awarded a gold medal for his animated works. In 1989 he moved to Israel, where he became known for his portraits, lyrical landscapes and works on religious themes. His work is often associated with Jewish identity, and his paintings are known for their intimacy and detail. He uses oil paints on wood to create his works.


Herman Moiseyevich Gold (Russian: Герман Моисеевич Гольд) is a Soviet, Ukrainian and contemporary Israeli artist. He is known as a painter, draftsman, and watercolorist, renowned for his expressive style of painting.
Herman Gold is skilled in both oil painting and watercolor, and often gives his works a dramatic character. He is one of the few contemporary Jewish artists to be included in the legendary World Encyclopedia of Artists of All Time.
His works are in museums and galleries in many countries, including Russia, Ukraine, France, Greece, the United States and others.


Elad Lassry is an Israeli-American artist who lives and works in Los Angeles.
Lassry defines his practice as consumed with "pictures" — generic images culled from vintage picture magazines and film archives, redeploying them in a variety of media, including photography, film, drawing and sculpture. Leaving little distance between the commercial and the analytical, he is sometimes described as a post-Pictures Generation artist.
Starting with popular modes of production such as magazine advertising, he uses silk-screening and photography to revive iconic art-historical arrangements, such as the pairing of mother and child or the arrangement of fruit a conventional still life, disrupting their original harmony with geometric displacements or a palette of bright colours. His chromogenic color prints — still life compositions, photocollages, and studio portraits of friends and celebrities — never exceed the dimensions of a magazine page or spread (35 x 28 cm) and are displayed in frames that derive their colors from the dominant hues in the photographs.


Emmanuel Mané-Katz (Hebrew: מאנה כץ) was a Ukrainian-born Jewish artist who is best known for his depictions of Jewish life and culture.
Mané-Katz studied art in Kiev and Paris, where he was influenced by the Fauvist and Cubist movements. He became a prominent figure in the Jewish art world, painting scenes of Jewish life in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. He was particularly interested in Jewish religious ceremonies and rituals, and often depicted rabbis, Hasidic Jews, and other members of the Jewish community.
Mané-Katz was also a collector of Jewish art and artifacts, and his collection of Judaica became world-renowned. He wrote several books on Jewish art and culture, including "The Jew in Art" and "The Jewish Festivals in Painting."
Today, Mané-Katz's work can be found in the collections of museums such as the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the Jewish Museum in New York City, and the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. His legacy continues to be celebrated by those who appreciate his contributions to the representation of Jewish life and culture in art.


Leonid Yakovlevich Mezheritski (Russian: Леонид Яковлевич Межерицкий) was a Soviet, Ukrainian and Israeli artist of the second half of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. He is known as a painter who specialized in oil painting, a representative of the South Russian (Odessa) school.
Leonid Mezheritski created mainly plein air landscapes, and also worked in the genres of portraiture and still life. His style was based on the coloristic systems of French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. His works can be found in state art museums in Ukraine and private collections in various countries, including the United States, Canada, Germany, England, Israel and Russia.


Reuven Rubin (Hebrew: ראובן רובין) was an Israeli modernist painter, one of the founders of Israeli painting.
Reuven Rubin's early works were influenced by European art movements such as Post-Impressionism and Fauvism. The artist often used bright colours and expressive brushwork. Over time, his style evolved to incorporate elements of cubism and abstraction, while maintaining a focus on depicting Jewish identity and connection to the land of Israel.
As one of the pioneering artists in Palestine, Reuven Rubin was instrumental in shaping the unique artistic identity of Israeli art. He was one of the founders of the Jerusalem House of Artists, a cultural institution that promoted art in the region. Rubin also served as director of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.




Pola Weizman was a Polish-born Israeli artist, known for her distinctive style of naive art and graphic design. Born in 1939 in Poland, Weizman survived the Holocaust and later emigrated to Israel, where she continued to develop her artistic skills. She studied at the Polytechnic College under notable instructors such as Narkis, Lipman, and Dan Karman, which significantly influenced her approach to art.
Weizman's art often depicted whimsical and vibrant scenes, reflecting the colorful street life of her adopted homeland, Israel. Her works were characterized by their simplicity and the joyful depiction of everyday life, which resonated with many art lovers and collectors. She had a notable one-woman exhibition at the Tel-Aviv Museum in 1970, which helped establish her reputation in the Israeli art scene.
Her artworks have been presented in various auctions, with her paintings often fetching prices that reflect her growing recognition in the art world. Her works are appreciated not only for their artistic value but also for their cultural and historical significance, capturing the spirit of a postwar Israeli society.
Weizman's legacy continues through the circulation of her artworks in galleries and auctions, offering collectors and art enthusiasts opportunities to own a piece of her unique artistic perspective. Her contributions to Israeli art are celebrated for their heartfelt portrayal of life and culture through the lens of a survivor and immigrant.
For those interested in exploring more about Pola Weizman's life and works, staying informed about upcoming auctions and exhibitions can provide valuable insights into her artistic journey and the impact of her works in the realms of naive art and Israeli cultural history.