Daniel Kafri

Born in 1945 in Czechoslovakia             
Immigrated to Israel, in 1949  
Living ever since in Jerusalem.


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1950-1966

Lives and attends schools in Kiryat Motzkin, near Haifa

1966-1969

Studies at the Bezalel Academy of Arts, on a scholarship from the America-Israel Foundation

1970

Bust of David Ben-Gurion, on display at Ben-Gurion International Airport, commissioned by the Jewish Agency for Israel

1971

Group exhibition at the Artists' House, Jerusalem

Member of the Israeli group that participates in the Monaco Biennale for Young Artists and wins first prize

1972-1977

(1972-1974)
Noah's Ark
, The Flute Player, and Hallelujah, stone monuments commissioned by the Jerusalem Municipality

(1973-1975)
Teaches sculpture and drawing in the Department of Art, Haifa University

(1976)
Receives the Jerusalem Prize for Sculpture

(1975-1977)
The Gate of the Faith
, made from Jerusalem limestone, four meters tall and weighing 27 tons, depicting the biblical past of the people of Israel; the monument rests on a hill in the center of Old Jaffa and is the biggest stone monument in Israel

1978

Bust of Yitzhak Rabin, then prime minister of Israel, commissioned by his wife, Leah

1981-1982

Wall relief, 8.5 meters tall and seven meters wide, in the lobby of the Sonesta Hotel, Taba

1985

Wins international competition sponsored by the Schachter Institute of the United States for a sculpture for the Schachter Institute in Jerusalem; the subject matter of the two-meter-tall work, made of Jerusalem limestone, is the Twelve Tribes of Israel

1987

One-man show, of fourteen sculptures, at the Weintraub Gallery, in New York City

1988

Wins international competition sponsored by the Jewish Community Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; his winning sculpture, The Menorah, made of bronze, 1.5 meters tall, 2.5 meters wide, and weighing one ton, sits in front of the JCC, in the center of the city

1991

Memorial for the Ethiopian Jews who perished on their way to Israel, commissioned by the Jewish National Fund; the monument, composed of five high-relief stone panels, each one square meter in size, sits near Ramat Rachel, in Jerusalem

 

One-man show at the AHAVA Gallery, Boca Raton, Florida

1992

Stone relief, three meters tall and four meters wide, in the lobby of the Lev Yerushalayim Hotel, Jerusalem

1993

Exhibition of sixteen bronze sculptures, Klutznick Museum, Washington, D.C.

Stone relief, two meters tall and four meters wide, in the lobby of the Hilton Hotel, Taba

1994

Edition of the bronze sculpture The Peace Dove, commissioned by the Prime Minister’s Office and given by Prime Minister Rabin to state leaders who supported the peace process, among them kings Hussein, Hassan, and Juan Carlos, and President Clinton

1995

Three monumental sculptures, made of Carera marble and commissioned by Guardian Industries Corporation, for the company’s headquarters, in Detroit, Michigan

1996

Wins competition for sculpture commemorating the liberation of Eilat; the 1.5 ton, eight-meter tall work is the largest bronze sculpture in Israel

They Changed their Swords to Plowshares, a twenty-five-meter-high sculpture of Carera marble, commissioned by the Soda Club, Jerusalem, for display in the company’s courtyard

1997

Three monumental sculptures, commissioned by David Hermelin, United States ambassador to Norway, for the garden of his home, in Detroit, Michigan

The Family, 2.2 meters tall and weighing six tons, displayed at the Peabody Place Project, Memphis, Tennessee, and A Wound Element, 1.5 meters tall and weighing three tons, displayed in the headquarters of Belz Enterprises, of Memphis, which commissioned the two works

Three bronze sculptures in a group exhibition of Israeli artists at the Kennedy Center, Washington, DC, commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the State of Israel

1998

The Spirit, made in Carera of Carera marble, 2.2 meters tall and weighing three tons, commissioned by Belz Enterprises, displayed in the front courtyard of the Peabody Hotel, Memphis

1999

Participates in the “Forme del Bianco” group exhibition in Carera, sponsored by Banco d’Italia; the one-square-meter work was carved in Belgian black marble

Bust of King Hussein, commissioned for display, along with a portrait of Yitzhak Rabin, in the “Room of Peace,” in the gardens of Beit Gavriel, Tiberias

One-man exhibition of fourteen monumental stone sculptures, in the piazza of Carera, in celebration of the millennium

2001

One-man exhibition of marble sculptures in the patio at the entrance to the Sherover Theater, in Jerusalem

2002-2005

Series of twenty-four reliefs on biblical stories, commissioned by Belz Enterprises

2005

Bust of Eli Cohen, Israeli master-spy in Syria, who was caught and hanged, commissioned by the Prime Minister’s Office

 

Sculptures by Daniel Kafri on permanent display for public viewing

  • Hilton Hotel, Taba (stone-relief in the lobby)
  • Eilat, Liberation of Eilat
  • Old Jaffa, The Gate of the Faith
  • Near Ramat Rachel, Jerusalem, “Memorial to Ethiopians who Died on Way to Israel”
  • Hadassah Hospital, Mount Scopus
  • Bar-Ilan University
  • Sheba Hospital
  • Soroka Hospital
  • Pardes-Hana
  • Herzliya
  • Hotel Lev Yerushalayim
  • Davidson Institute of Science Education, Weizmann Institute

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