Shraga Weil

Shraga Weil studied at Academy of Fine Arts, Prague. The field of work recorded is painting, drawing and art of sculpture. Work by Shraga Weil is recorded in the collections of Petah Tikva Museum of Art. Distinctions recorded are Dizengoff Prize.

• Name — Shrage Weil שרגא ווייל • Birth Name — František Ferdinand Weil • Born — 24 September 1918 • Birthplace — Nyitra, Austria-Hungary • Died — 20 February 2009 • Place of death — Israel • Field — Painting, Graphics, Printmaking • Training — Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, Academie des Beaux Arts in Paris • Movement — Modern • Awards — Dizengoff Prize (1959)

Weil was born as František Ferdinand Weil in Nyitra, Austria-Hungary (today Nitra, Slovakia) in 1918 to a family of teachers, journalists and merchants. His father was a building engineer. He was sent to study with a local sculptor, and then to the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. He produced his first graphic works during World War II, during which he spent as a prisoner. After the War, he sailed for Mandatory Palestine on an illegal immigrant ship. He arrived in Mandatory Palestine in 1947 and became a member of Kibbutz HaOgen, where he lived until his death. In 1954, he studied murals and graphic techniques at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris. He also studied mosaics in Ravenna with Professor Severini. Weil died on February 20, 2009.

Weil's works have been exhibited in the United States, South America, Canada, Australia, France, Slovakia, the USSR, Switzerland, and in the International Exhibition of Graphic Arts, in Lugano. His style was influence by socialist art, which according to the Israel Museum was more widely embraced by the Kibbutz movement. His work includes the door of the Israeli president's residence as well as ceramic reliefs at Tel Aviv's Great Synagogue. Weil's artwork is in the permanent collections of Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Fogg Museum, Harvard University, Los Angeles County Museum, Jewish Museum, New York, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Joslyn Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, Judah Magnes Museum, Berkeley, CA, as well as others.

• Illustration — Ceramic Relief at the Tel-Aviv's Great Synagogue. • Illustration — Door at the Knesset