The United States Committee for UNICEF announced today that a UNICEF greeting card designed by an Israeli artist will be issued for sale this year for Rosh Hashanah for the first time.
“Birds and Trees,” by Shalom Moshkovitz, an exponent of the Safed style of primitive art, will be sold for the benefit of the UN Children’s Fund. It is available with Rosh Hashanah greetings in both Hebrew and English. The artist has had his works exhibited in galleries and museums in Tel Aviv, New York, Chicago, Paris, London and Zurich.
Born in the village of Safed high in the hills of Galilee some 70 years ago, Mr. Moshkovitz came late to painting. For more than half a century he worked at various trades, chiefly watch making, but also as a silversmith and a stonemason. Fond of children, he spent his spare time making wooden toys decorated with crayons.
Nine years ago, after making a bird of paradise which he wished to color brightly, he asked his neighbor, an artist, for some paints. The artist watched him decorate the bird, and urged him to paint his impressions on paper. He returned home with a few paints and brushes and gradually a sheaf of temperas and oils accumulated. Since then his paintings gained recognition throughout the world.
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