A Tribute to David Tartakover (January 29, 1944 – July 28, 2025), one of Israel’s most celebrated graphic designers

A Tribute to David Tartakover January 29, 1944 – July 28, 2025, one of Israel’s most celebrated graphic designers founder of the field in the country, and recipient of the Israel Prize for Design, who passed away last week at his home at the age of 81 after a battle with Parkinson’s disease.

Tartakover was born in Haifa in 1944. The back cover of his book Tartakover (The Red Book), published in 2011 and one of Israel’s best-selling graphic art books, summed up his biography succinctly: “Born in Haifa, grew up in Jerusalem, lives in Tel Aviv. At 18, joined the paratroopers, then studied at Bezalel. At 22, moved to London to study graphic design. Returned to Jerusalem, later moved to Tel Aviv, and began working and never stopped.”

He rose to prominence with, among other works, the 1978 Independence Day poster for the State’s 30th anniversary, Shalom (“Peace”), considered a landmark of Israeli graphic design; the logo for the “Peace Now” movement; numerous album covers, including Shalom Hanoch’s Waiting for Messiah; and for turning the cactus into an enduring Israeli icon.

Tartakover held more than twenty solo exhibitions in Israel and abroad, including at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. His work was shown widely in Japan, France (in multiple exhibitions), Germany, and the United States. He participated in over eighty group exhibitions worldwide, was a regular presence at international poster biennales, and was invited to serve on international design juries. His works are held in the collections of numerous museums, including The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Jewish Museum, New York; the Library of Congress, Washington D.C.; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris; and the museums of applied arts in Zurich and Hamburg.