Shabat Menachem Davidov (later Shmuel Ben David) studied under
Boris Schatz at the
National Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia. In 1906, he
immigrated to Palestine and enrolled at the
Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts established by Schatz in Jerusalem. Ben David was the first Bezalel student to become a teacher there. He taught in the Tapestry Department and devoted much of his artistic endeavor to research and design of Hebrew typography; his preoccupation with the Hebrew alphabet brought forth an extensive lexicon of ornamentation. In 1912, the artist traveled to Paris and continued his art studies at the
Academie Julian and left a collection of sketch books. In 1920 Ben David was one of the founders of the
Agudat Omanim Ivrit (Association of Hebrew Artists). He organized the Association's first exhibition and was its first chairman. Around 1923, Ben David produced a unique copy of an illuminated Scroll of
Esther, made of parchment. Ben David died in Jerusalem in 1927 and was buried in the
Mount of Olives Cemetery. == See also ==