Yaacov Farkas
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Yaakov Farkash ( he, יעקב פרקש; born 1923, died 15 October 2002), better known by the
pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...
Ze'ev (Hebrew: ), was an Israeli
caricaturist A caricaturist is an artist who specializes in drawing caricatures. List of caricaturists * Abed Abdi (born 1942) * Al Hirschfeld (1903–2003) * Alex Gard (1900–1948) * Alexander Saroukhan (1898–1977) * Alfred Grévin (1827–1892) * Alf ...
and
illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...
.


Biography


Early life and World War II

Farkash was born in
Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
,
Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...
, in 1923. At an early age Farkash became interested in painting and at the age of 12 drew caricatures which he published in a newspaper he distributed in his neighborhood. At first he did not foresee himself drawing professionally, in part because he was
color blind Color blindness or color vision deficiency (CVD) is the decreased ability to see color or differences in color. It can impair tasks such as selecting ripe fruit, choosing clothing, and reading traffic lights. Color blindness may make some aca ...
. In addition, his high school art teacher was not particularly impressed with his ability, calling him "the worst painter in class." Nevertheless, Farkash continued to draw, and in his last year in school drew caricatures of his classmates. When he finished high school, Farkash wanted to study journalism, but as Jews in Hungary were at that time banned from joining the university, he turned to
carpentry Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters tr ...
instead. In retrospect, the carpentry skills he later acquired saved Farkash from serving in the Russian front during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, and instead he was assigned to work as a carpenter in a military camp. Farkash was then sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp and from there to the
Dachau concentration camp , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...
. After the war Farkash tried to immigrate to Palestine illegally, but was caught by the British forces in Palestine and sent to prison in
Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
. Throughout this period Farkash continued drawing caricatures in his private diary. He finally managed to immigrate to Israel in 1947 and was recruited to the 7th Armored Brigade, participating in the Battles of Latrun during the
1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...
.


Early career in the Israeli press

During his first years in Israel Farkash worked as a construction worker, building buildings and roads. In addition, Farkash tried selling his drawings, and eventually managed to sell his first caricature to the Israeli newspaper ''Omer''. He then turned to Ephraim Kishon, also born in Hungary, who at the time worked for the Israeli Hebrew-language daily tabloid '' Ma'ariv''. Farkash was hired as a caricaturist by ''Ma'ariv'' in 1952, where he used to draw a daily caricature, a new thing in the Israeli press at the time. The newspapers' editors eventually decided that the experiment was not successful, and after a few months Farkash was transferred to work as an illustrator. During this period Farkash began signing his drawings under the pen name "Ze'ev", which derives from his family name ("Farkas" in Hungarian means "
Wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...
", "Ze'ev" in Hebrew). This followed advice given to him by Ephraim Kishon, who encouraged him to choose a short and sweet name, though it was also a natural pick: as a student in Hungary was called "Lupus", the Latin word for wolf, by his teachers. Later, when he tried to emigrate, he registered under, and went by the name of, "Jonah Wolf" when he was detained in Cyprus. During the late fifties and early sixties Farkash worked as a caricaturist for the Israeli magazine ''Davar HaShavua'' where he used to draw daily caricatures.


1960s until his death

In 1962 the Israeli daily newspaper ''
Haaretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...
'' hired him to draw daily caricatures. A year later, he was given his own a permanent section in the Friday edition of the newspaper. This section used to feature one big caricature which extended across the whole page, and which included several different current events which were connected under one motif. These caricatures were always accompanied by his own little self-portrait in which he was holding a brush with dripping ink. Farkash continued to work for ''Haaretz'' another forty years, until a few months before his death. Later on Farkash's caricatures were also published in foreign newspapers, including the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' and ''
Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
'', the American magazines ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' and ''
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
'', and the German magazine ''
Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...
''. Beyond his work as a caricaturist, Farkash also worked as an illustrator, and illustrated through his career dozens of books published in Israel. Farkash had a great impact on Israeli caricaturists and is widely considered to be one of the greatest political cartoonists in Israel. Through the years Farkash supported and encouraged many young Israeli artists who attempted to enter this field, particularly children and teenagers. Among those whom he encouraged is the successful Israeli cartoonist and caricaturist
Michel Kichka Michel Kichka (born 1954 in Liège, Belgium) is an Israeli cartoonist and illustrator of Belgian origin. His father was Holocaust survivor Henri Kichka. Biography Michel Kichka was born in Belgium to Henri Kichka, a Holocaust survivor, and his ...
. Farkash died on 15 October 2002.


Awards

Farkash won numerous awards over the years, including the following awards: * In 1960, the Nordau Prize. * In 1971, the Schwimmer Prize for Journalism. * In 1973, the Hertzl Prize. * In 1981, the Israeli
Sokolov Award The Sokolov Award, also known as Sokolov Prize, is an Israeli journalism award, awarded by the Tel Aviv municipality, in memory of Nahum Sokolow. The award has been granted since 1956, initially to outstanding print journalists and since 1981 to ...
in the field of Journalism. * In 1993, the
Israel Prize The Israel Prize ( he, פרס ישראל; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state cer ...
in the field of communications and journalism.


See also

*
List of Israel Prize recipients This is a complete list of recipients of the Israel Prize from the inception of the Prize in 1953 through to 2022. List For each year, the recipients are, in most instances, listed in the order in which they appear on the official Israel Prize ...


References


External links


Ze'ev's profile on The Israeli Museum of Caricature and Comics website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeev Israeli caricaturists Israeli illustrators Israel Prize in communication recipients Hungarian Jews Israeli Jews Hungarian emigrants to Israel Artists from Budapest 1923 births 2002 deaths