16 Facts About Boris Schatz

Boris Schatz was a Lithuanian Jewish artist and sculptor who settled in Palestine.

Boris Schatz was born in Varniai, in the Kovno Governorate of the Russian Empire.

Boris Schatz showed Antokolski a small figurine of a Jew in a prayer shawl he had carved from black stone.

Antokolsky secured a stipend for Boris Schatz and encouraged him to apply for the St Petersburg Academy of Art, but the plan to study there did not work out.

In 1889, Boris Schatz moved to Paris with wife to study painting at the Academie Cormon and sculpture under Antokolski.

In 1894, Boris Schatz gained recognition for his sculpture "Mattathias the Maccabee".

In March 1904, Boris Schatz sailed to the United States to oversee the construction of the Bulgarian Pavilion at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.

Boris Schatz remained in the country for ten months, until the end of December 1904.

In 1905, heartbroken when she did not return his affection, Boris Schatz left for Berlin, where he stayed with the Zionist illustrator Ephraim Moses Lilien.

In 1911, Boris Schatz married Olga Pevzner, a writer and art history teacher.

Boris Schatz died while on a fundraising tour in Denver, Colorado in 1932.

In 1895, Boris Schatz accepted an invitation from Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria to become the official court sculptor and to establish that country's Royal Academy of Art.

Boris Schatz died while fundraising on behalf of the school in the United States.

Boris Schatz's body was brought back to Jerusalem and buried on the Mount of Olives.

Part of the Boris Schatz Archive is housed in the Information Center for Israeli Art at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

The Boris Schatz archive contains some unique documents, minutes of meetings of the Bezalel committee, prizes awarded to Schatz by the Sofia Palace and the King of Bulgaria and Boris Schatz's diploma.