Art and designאבי כץ

Avi Katz

Avi Katz is an Israeli illustrator and cartoonist, known for children's book illustrations and his long work as staff artist of The Jerusalem Report.

born 1949Illustrating children's and youth booksCartoons for The Jerusalem ReportEight Ze'ev Prize booksThe 2018 Netanyahu cartoon

Born: 24 December 1949, Philadelphia
Occupation: illustrator, caricaturist
Education: Bezalel Academy of Art and Design

Avi Katz was born in 1949 in Philadelphia

Katz was born in Philadelphia on December 24, 1949. He attended Jewish day schools there and studied art at the Fleisher Art Memorial.

He studied for 3 years at the University of California, Berkeley, where he held 2 solo shows. In 1970 he moved to the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem. He graduated in Fine Arts in 1973 and settled in Israel.

After teaching art and showing paintings, he turned to illustration full time. He illustrated many books for young readers in Hebrew and English, as well as science fiction and fantasy books. In the 1980s he drew daily comic strips for Davar.

From 1990 he was staff artist of The Jerusalem Report. In 2018 he was dismissed after a cartoon showed Benjamin Netanyahu and coalition members as pigs, which led to debate and protests by colleagues. He was rehired by the magazine in September 2023.

Katz is active in the Israeli Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy and in Cartooning for Peace. He lives in Ramat Gan.