Art and designשמשון הולצמן

Shimshon Holzman

Shimshon Holzman was an Israeli painter known for his watercolor landscapes and for helping found the Artists' Quarter in Safed.

1907 to 1986Watercolor landscapes of IsraelFounding the Safed Artists' QuarterTwo Dizengoff Prizes

Occupation: painter
Education: Académie de la Grande Chaumière

Shimshon Holzman was born in 1907 in Sambir

Holzman was born in 1907 in Sambir, Galicia. His father, Feivel, was a house painter. In 1922 the family moved from Vienna to Mandate Palestine and settled in Tel Aviv, where Holzman worked with his father painting houses.

In 1926 he began studying painting with Yitzhak Frenkel in Tel Aviv. In 1929 he went to Paris, studied at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and held solo shows. French painters such as Matisse shaped his style.

Back in the country, he took part in the group show that opened the Tel Aviv Museum in 1932. He returned to Paris in 1934 and 1935, and showed in London in 1947. He helped found the Artists' Quarter in Safed and won the Dizengoff Prize in 1937 and 1959.

Most of his work is watercolor landscapes of Safed, Mount Meron, Tiberias, the Yarkon and Jaffa. He also painted Bedouin, Arab and Jewish life. He died in Tel Aviv in 1986.