Esther Berlin-Joel

Esther Berlin-Joel was born in 1895 in Hamburg

Esther Else Joel was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1895. She studied at the University of Fine Arts of Hamburg from 1915 to 1920. In 1920 she moved to Berlin, where she studied with Alexander Archipenko and Ludwig Meidner.

In 1922 she married Dr. Haim Berlin, and their son Dan was born in 1923. The family moved to Mandatory Palestine in 1925 and settled in Tel Aviv. The couple divorced in 1930, and she later changed her surname to Berli-Joel.

She worked as an artist and graphic designer, creating posters and emblems for cities and organizations. She held 12 solo exhibitions and took part in many group shows, including at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. In 1936 she won first prize for her book of paintings about Haifa.

A city committee asked her to design the Haifa coat of arms, which was approved in 1936. She also designed the Holon emblem and proposed designs for Jerusalem, one of which the city adopted in 1943 but never received final approval. She died on March 7, 1972, and was buried in Haifa.