Shraga Weil

Shraga Weil was born in 1918 in Nitra

Weil was born František Ferdinand Weil in Nitra in 1918. His family included teachers, journalists and merchants, and his father was a building engineer. As a young man he joined the Hashomer Hatzair movement.

He first studied with a local sculptor and in 1937 began art studies in Prague. During World War II he was in Budapest, where he joined the pioneer underground and forged documents. After the war he illustrated for a Budapest publisher and for youth movements.

In 1947 he sailed to Mandatory Palestine and was held in a detention camp in Cyprus, where he painted camp life and taught art to youth. At the end of 1947 he arrived and joined Kibbutz HaOgen, where he lived until his death. He later studied graphic and mural techniques in Paris and mosaics in Ravenna.

His work included the entrance doors of the Knesset, the doors of the President's Residence, and ceramic reliefs at Tel Aviv's Great Synagogue. He exhibited in Israel, the United States, Switzerland and Slovakia, and his work is held in museum collections. He received the Dizengoff Prize for Painting in 1959.

Weil died on February 20, 2009, and was buried at Kibbutz HaOgen. He was survived by his wife Sara and daughter Efrat. His son was killed in a tractor accident before enlisting.