Lot 320: Shmuel Ben David ( Betzalel) -Title pages for a Passover Haggadah - two colorful sketches done by hand from the beginning f Betzalel

The sketches were intended to illustrate and design A passover Haggadah that seems to have never been printed. There is no known copy in the Israel nation library of a haggadah illustrated by Shmuel Ben david. The sketches are illustrated with water colors and sketching on paper. Clear Jewish symbolism and Art nouveau elements The two sketches are signed by the artist on the right side of the paper.' On the paper there are notes regarding the works and on one of the sketches there is technical sizing of one of the lion sketches. Attached to the sketches were the Haggadah texts that were supposed to be put into frame. On one the sketches the original Text is still attached. On the other it has been torn of. General condition is very good with sign of age and minor oxidation stains to the paper. dimensions 25.5*35.5 Shabat Menachem Davidov (later Shmuel Ben David) studied under Boris Schatz at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia. In 1906, he immigrated to Palestine and enrolled at the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts established by Schatz in Jerusalem. Ben David was the first Bezalel student to become a teacher there. He taught in the Tapestry Department and devoted much of his artistic endeavor to research and design of Hebrew typography; his preoccupation with the Hebrew alphabet brought forth an extensive lexicon of ornamentation. In 1912, the artist traveled to Paris and continued his art studies at the Academie Julian and left a collection of sketch books. In 1920 Ben David was one of the founders of the Agudat Omanim Ivrit (Association of Hebrew Artists). He organized the Association’s first exhibition and was its first chairman. Around 1923 Ben David produced a unique copy of an illuminated Scroll of Esther, made of parchment. Ben David died in Jerusalem in 1927 and was buried in the Mount of Olives Cemetery.