Igael Tumarkin, is considered to be One of Israel's top sculptors, whose body of work includes also painting, printing, illustration and stage design.
He was born in 1933, in Dresden, Germany and soon after, immigrated to Israel with his mother. In 1954, he worked for the sculptor Rudy Lehmann in Ein Hod. A year later he visited Europe and worked as a set designer in the Berliner Ensemble with Bertolt Brecht.
He created His First Iron Sculpture In 1956. In The Following Years He Traveled To Europe And Sculpted In Iron, In Germany, The Netherlands And Paris. In 1962 He Visited Japan And The United States, Where He Was Exposed To Spray-Painting Techniques And started Painting.
In 1964, He Began Sculpting With Weapon Parts, And Later, He Also Included Reliefs Of Parts Of The Human Body In His Works. In 1970 He Moved on To Sculpt In Stainless Steel.
Over the years, Tumarkin has won many awards, including: the Hulikeat Memorial Award (1963); Sandberg Prize, Israel Museum (1968); Prize for the Holocaust and Resurrection Monument (1971); Medal of Excellence by the President of Italy (1984); Rodin Prize at the Open Museum, Hakone, Japan (1992); Cross of Excellence on behalf of the President of Germany (1997); Sussman Prize, Vienna (1998).
In 2004, Igael Tumarkin was awarded the Israel Prize.
