Jean David, 1908–1993, designer, painter and illustrator, multi-media artist.
Born in Bucharest to a wealthy family, Jean David studies at the Académie Julian and at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He had several exhibitions in his home city and was a member of the surrealist group, Unu, although he never quite felt at home with any particular artistic philosophy. He fled Romania for Palestine in 1942. After the British seized the boat carrying him and 12 other refugees, he spent two years at an internment camp in Cyprus. He joined the British Navy immediately on his release.
David lived in Jerusalem for a while, was one of the pioneers of the Ein Hod artist’s colony, and finally settled in an apartment, overlooking the sea, in Tel Aviv. His immensely popular posters for tourism, interiors for El Al aircraft and terminals, large scale works for hotels and cruise ships made him an almost ubiquitous part of Israel’s graphic landscape, both domestically and internationally, in the 1950s and ’60s.
The Israel Exposition listed him as one of its exhibitors (courtesy of the Ford Motor Company).