Zeev, the pen name used by Yaakov Farkash (1923-2002), one of Israel's greatest illustrators and caricaturists, was an inseparable part of local theater culture. As a theater buff who occupied a regular place in the front row of the country's theaters, he illustrated plays, premieres and festival throughout the country, and in particular at the Haifa Theater.
This exhibition features a range of sketches, illustrations, and portraits of the most famous actors who performed at the Haifa Theater, as represented by Zeev with remarkable skill beginning in the 1950s. These works served as the basis for the illustrations he created for the daily newspaper Maariv, which accompanied articles and news items about different plays.
"The actor 'dies' every evening on stage. Following the applause, as the curtain comes down, he and the character he impersonates disappear into oblivion. Wrote the actor Shlomo Bar-Shavit in Ze'ev's Golden Book (1993), Then came Zeev, and changed this fundamental law. Thanks to him, the theater family continues to live an eternal life. Zeev, a wise, charming, humorous man, who is possessed of a rare talent to stop time by means of lines flowing on paper, eternalizes us in his caricatures, which are the most wonderful moments of our life. Without him, we would be lost. Zeev preserves our youth and loves our old age. He freezes the moment in which we create. Zeev is the guardian of our personal and professional archive, the archive of life and creation."
Visitors to the exhibition will be provided with activity pages that will enable them to study classical illustration and caricature techniques, to examine the relations between the illustrated figure and the photographed figure, to create their own caricatures, and more. This exhibition is designed for the entire family.