B. Plonsk, 1880 - d. Jerusalem, 1940

Day of Atonement Eve, 1931, watercolors

Jozef Budko received a traditional Jewish education in his youth and later studied art in Vilna and Berlin under Franz von Stuck. He immigrated to Palestine in 1933, and was appointed director of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Crafts in 1935. Budko created many illustrations for prayer books and for the literary works of Ch.N. Bialik, Y. L. Peretz, and Sholem Aleichem. In his artwork, Budko revived the decorative and symbolic values of Hebrew letters.