Background
His parents were Russian Holocaust refugees. His father had been involved in the theatre. He grew up with an interest in chess and classical music, cultural phenomena that were foreign to his little village.
His parents were Russian Holocaust refugees. His father had been involved in the theatre. He grew up with an interest in chess and classical music, cultural phenomena that were foreign to his little village.
Bezalel Academy, of Art, Jerusalem and with artists A. Yaskil and Ernst Fuchs.
Ahuva Doron Gallery, Tel Aviv 1970, Bergman Gallery, Tel Aviv, Interior, Sarah Kishon Gallery, Tel Aviv 1977, Empty Rooms, Sarah Kishon Gallery, Tel Aviv 1980, Artists House, Jerusalem (retrospective) 1982, Six Models, 13‘/2 Gallery, Tel Aviv 1986, Musee de l"Athenee, Geneva (retrospective) 1987, Roy Miles Gallery, London 1989; group exhibition Salon des BeauxArts, Grand Palais, Paris 1985; lectured at Hebrew University Jerusalem 1979; major works include portraits of Royal Highness The Princess of Wales 1990, Henry Catto (former United States Ambassador to United Kingdom) 1990; also writes, adapts and directs plays for theatre including Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice (Duke of Cambridge, London), Brecht’s The Jewish Wife (Cockpit, London), works by Strindberg, Chekhov, Sartre, Dostoevsky for Cafe Theatre, London, et ceteraIsrael Zohar spent the first several years of his life traveling between various countries of Eastern Europe in what is now the former Soviet Bloc. Though few verifiable facts are known about his life, a general biography can be compiled based on his own accounts. As a teenager he began to express interest in art, and participated seriously in athletics and basketball.
He was not allowed to finish high school, for reasons that are historically unclear.
At the age of 18 he went to the Army, and narrowly escaped court-marshal after some military maps of Syria and Lebanon disappeared from his patrol jeep. In 1967 he fought in the Six Day War.
When he began his studies at Bezalel Art Academy subsequent to his release from the Army, in Jerusalem, his teachers encouraged him to begin a professional career right away. Winning the award for the Israeli-American Foundation in 1968, he took a course with the Viennese artist Ernst Fuchs.
His first paintings were influenced by the fantastic realism movement, but quickly he changed to symbolism and later he came under the great influence of the Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer.
Growing up in Israel and developing a profound career there, he left in 1986 and came to live in London, partly to find a better atmosphere for his artistic career, and partly as a protest against the ongoing occupation of and brutality towards the Palestinian people. A meteoric career blossomed in London immediately. He was invited to do an official portrait for Diana, Princess of Wales, when she was at the height of her fame and popularity, in 1990.
Zohar is the father of Matan Zohar, an internationally acclaimed DJ and electronic music producer working under the name Mat Zo, and Israeli songwriter and musician Alma Zohar.
Diana, Princess of Wales (1990)
Wallace Browne, Baron Browne of Belmont (2006)
Honourable Society of the Middle Temple (2006).
Living in London still, he continues to be professionally involved with members of the British government and Royalty, and maintains an endless list of commitments to exhibitions all over the world.
Married 1st Ruth Bregman in 1966 (divorced in 1974), 2nd Ama Meyuhas in 1974 (divorced in 1982), 3rd Wendy Caron in 1984.