CV Eliezer Weishoff
Eliezer Weishoff was born in Jerusalem in 1938
to working-class parents from Poland. He lived
in the Mahaneh Yehuda neighbourhood,
which became a source of inspiration for
many of his paintings and sculptures.
He began his studies at the Bezalel
Academy of Art and Design in 1954, when he
was 16. At the end of his first year,
he earned a scholarship for the continuation
of his studies and graduated with distinction
in 1958. In 1963/4, he returned to Bezalel as
a lecturer and teacher.
With his induction to the Israel Defence Forces
in 1958, he became an illustrator and artistic
editor of the “Bemahaneh Gadna” magazine.
On his release from the army, he began work
at the “Ma’ariv LaNoar” magazine,
where he was in charge of the cover
illustrations, following which he went on
to illustrate many children’s books.
He also began to work intensively
in painting,sculpture,
and artistic printing techniques
such as woodcutting, silk screening,
and lithography.Alongside his
painting and sculpture, he also
worked as a graphic artist,
designing stamps for the Israeli
Post Office. His first postage
stamp was issued in 1963.
Since then, he has designed
scores of stamps for Israel
and other countries,including
several series of stamps for
the United Nations.
He has won a variety of prestigious,world-class awards.In 1964,
he was sent to design and set up the Israeli Pavilion at the
International Exhibition in Budapest.
Since then, he has designed many booths and pavilions for
Israel both in Israel and abroad, representing the State of
Israel with honour.
In 1966, he compiled the book Days of David Ben-Gurion,
for David Ben-Gurion’s journey to the USA. He also sketched
a portrait of Ben-Gurion for the former Prime Minister to
present as gifts.Around this time, he painted pictures of
Jerusalem and its surroundings, as well as other Israeli scenes,
such as the Port of Jaffa and its fishermen, characters he met
in markets and alleyways, and more. This led to his first one-man
exhibition in Tel Aviv in 1967. Since then, he has exhibited
his work in one-man exhibitions in Israel and abroad.
In 1968, El Al Airlines commissioned him to design the
“Gates of Jerusalem” calendar, which was distributed universally
and gave him worldwide recognition.
In 1970-71, the Israel Postal Service issued the
“Gates of Jerusalem”series of stamps, in which
he reprised the same subjects from the
calendar in his special graphic style of
gold and bright colours.
During this time, he also began a collaboration
with the “Maskit”art house for which he designed
series of artistic rugs,
fabric paintings, and prints with a biblical theme.
In 1972, Weishoff became interested in
sculpture and ceramic design.
His first series of sculptures included stylized
animals in relief using biblical and Israeli themes.
This was, in fact, his entrance into the world of
bronze sculpture which gave him more opportunity
for expression than he found with ceramics.
His bronze castings were not limited to one material,
and he experimented with combining different metals
and developing sophisticated casting techniques.
The artist’s artworks are a result of meticulous
research and preparation.For his humans drawings
series he spent much time in the alleyways and
marketplaces of Israel,drawing dozens of sketches.
The same technique of preparation,
spending tens of hours watching & observing
animals in the wild and at zoological gardens,
gave birth to his animal sculptures series, casted
in bronze, pewter and aluminium.He held various
public positions.He was Chairman of The Association
of Designers in Israel Artistic Advisor to IAI the
Israel Aerospace Industries , to the Israel Government
Coins and Medals Corporation,and to Keter Publications
in Jerusalem was on the judging committee
of the Jewish National Fund,
and lectured at various academic institutions.
