Art and designשמואל כץ

Shmuel Katz

Shmuel Katz was an Israeli painter, illustrator and cartoonist, known for his illustrations of children's books such as Room for Rent and the Hasamba series.

1926 to 2010Illustrations for Room for RentIllustrating the Hasamba seriesCartoons in Al HaMishmarSketches of the Eichmann trial

Born: 18 August 1926, Vienna
Died: 26 March 2010, Nahariya
Occupation: caricaturist, painter, illustrator, artist
Education: Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Beaux-Arts de Paris

Shmuel Katz was born in 1926 in Vienna

Katz was born in Vienna in 1926 to parents of Hungarian origin. His father was an opera singer and cantor, and Katz studied piano. After Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938, the family moved to Hungary.

After the German invasion of Hungary in 1944, he escaped to Budapest and hid in the Glass House run by Swiss diplomat Carl Lutz until the Red Army arrived. He joined Hashomer Hatzair and began studying architecture in Budapest. In 1946 he sailed on the immigrant ship Knesset Israel, was caught by the British and held in a camp on Cyprus.

He reached the Land of Israel in 1947 and in 1948 helped found Kibbutz Ga'aton, where he lived for the rest of his life. He illustrated the children's weekly Mishmar Layeladim until 1953 and studied art in Paris in 1953 and 1954. He then joined Al HaMishmar as illustrator and graphics editor and drew a weekly cartoon.

Katz illustrated hundreds of books, many for Sifriat Poalim. His sketches of the 1961 Eichmann trial are held by Yad Vashem. He died in a hospital in Nahariya in 2010.

Milestones in Shmuel Katz's life

1926
Born in Vienna.
1946
Interned in a British camp on Cyprus.
1948
Helped found Kibbutz Ga'aton.
1958
Traveled through East Africa.
1961
Sketched the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem.
1974
Received the Nordau Prize.
1985
Received the Nahum Gutman Prize for Illustration.
2007
Received the first Golden Pencil Award.
2010
Died in Nahariya.

Shmuel Katz served in the military

Katz was drafted into the IDF during the Sinai campaign as a map draftsman and later became a military artist who drew soldiers at the front. He served as a military artist until the First Lebanon War.