The symbol of the Jerusalem municipality: design by the Association of Jerusalem Commercial Graphic designers

Conference on the occasion of International Women's Day - "Women fighters on the way to the establishment of the state", March 2023

From the book "Stamps tell stories"- the stamp as an aid in the teaching-learning process - a teacher's guide" by Dina Shemer, Reshafim Publishing House, 1987

Translation of the article:

The 75th Independence Day edition of "Malka" beer and the Hakerem company is dedicated this year to the Shamir brothers. The beer labels will feature graphics by the brothers, who were the first graphic designers in Israel, and worked from the mid 1930s to the early 1990s. Maor Helfman, director of Israeli beers at the Hakerem company, explained the choice: "Malka beer is the largest and oldest craft brewery in Israel. A few years ago we wanted to celebrate Israeliness, and we did so using figures of leaders designed for us by Amit Shimoni. These were illustrations of leaders as hipster figures, and it was a huge success. We realized that we were on to something and we must make it a tradition every Independence Day”.

"This year we wanted to pay tribute to the Shamir brothers, among the first designers in Israel, even before the establishment of the state. They are responsible for iconic posters that we all grew up with, as well as the state emblem and the post office logo. We wanted to pay homage to them at the centre of the stage. We contacted the Shenkar Center for the Study of Art in Israel, who holds the rights to their collection. They were very enthusiastic and saw this as a way to continue the glorious legacy of the Shamir Brothers. They contacted their heirs, who agreed. We received a database of hundreds of posters and illustrations, and they told us we had a free hand. We chose the five posters we most connected with: one that calls for the Hebrew youth to join the navy, one for women to join the army, and more."

A set of beer labels designs that are based on Shamir poster designs of historic origin significance. These products will be launched in Feb 2023 to celebrate Israel's 2023 Independence day.

This confirmation of the donation receipt is similar to a Shamir poster for the same purpose. It is most likely their work since the date is from the same year but we have no proof of this

The Gindi Holdings Company advertises a new neighborhood "Karmei Hanadiv" in three page-sized ads
in Israel Today. To give the ad a formal look, they took the olive branches from the State Emblem
designed by the Shamir brothers in 1948 and also the shape of the shield (herald).
November 2022

Haaretz (7.11.22). A review of the exhibition "Travels in Palestine" by Gaston Zvi Itzkovitz.
One of the items is a First Day Cover for the opening of a post office in Rafah that was captured by the IDF in the Sixth Day War. On the FDC - a stamp designed by the Shamir brothers in 1955 to mark a decade of mobilization of the Hebrew Yeshuv to the struggle against the Nazis in World War II. Heroism is symbolized by the boys and girls who volunteered to parachute in the countries occupied by the Nazis

The Shamir designed Spam tin label is being sold as a framed wall mounted image.

Is the Luff (Spam) back?   An article in Walla, 7 October 2022 illustrated with the Shamir designed tin label from 1969. 

"We Should All Be Zionists - Essays on the Jewish State and the path to peace"  by Dr. Einat Wilf. Published  2022 

In a message to her fans Einat included the following paragraph:

"Ever since the book came out, many have commented on the beautiful cover designed by Avraham Vofsi. There is a nice story behind it: the photo in the cover comes from my first Labor Party primaries campaign in 2002. As I was campaigning, some Labor Party voters told me I reminded them of the girl on the 1/2 Lira note from the 1950’s. Given the theme of this book, I thought it would be fun to put the two images together (see images below)."

​Eran Litvin created a visual investigation for a new documentary on Kan 11 about songs written after the Yom Kippur War. For this purpose, he asked to use an image of banknotes that the Shamir brothers designed in an animation of a graphic transition.​

 G magazine of Globes came out on Friday (5.8) with a cover story about the kibbutz industry following another great success of a kibbutz - Kibbutz Shamir sold "Shamir Optica". To give a kibbutz-ish atmosphere, the editor of the magazine decided to illustrate the cover with the figures of the pioneers from the 50 lira banknote designed by the Shamir brothers in 1958. Inside the issue, the article is further decorated with a Nahal girl soldier from the half-lira banknote that was also designed  by Shamir. Globes did not include credit to the artists but credited an American company (Shutterstock) that sells digital images and photographs even when it does not have rights to them. In response to our inquiry, the editor Shlomit Ravid agreed to give credit to the Shamir brothers in the online edition of Globes.

 G magazine of Globes came out on Friday (5.8) with a cover story about the kibbutz industry following another great success of a kibbutz - Kibbutz Shamir sold "Shamir Optica". To give a kibbutz-ish atmosphere, the editor of the magazine decided to illustrate the cover with the figures of the pioneers from the 50 lira banknote designed by the Shamir brothers in 1958. Inside the issue, the article is further decorated with a Nahal girl soldier from the half-lira banknote that was also designed  by Shamir. Globes did not include credit to the artists but credited an American company (Shutterstock) that sells digital images and photographs even when it does not have rights to them. In response to our inquiry, the editor Shlomit Ravid agreed to give credit to the Shamir brothers in the online edition of Globes.

An experiential game for high school students preparing for a matriculation exam in the Hebrew language. In the center panel the creator included a Black and white reproduction of two posters for learning the Hebrew language, designed by the Shamir brothers in the early 1950s.   Game creator: Sheerin Romano

 An article in Israel Today: "A lesson with respect" uses two JNF stamps on "Respect your teacher" designed by the Shamir brothers in 1953

 The figure in the poster was taken from an original Shamir Brothers poster

 An "traditional and democratic" exhibition opened at the Youth Center in the Hatikva neighborhood of Tel Aviv. Ten

 A tattoo inspired by a Shamir brothers poster on the arm of the film director Rotem Shamir - Yoram Shamir's nephew.

Rotem Shamir. directed the second season of 'Fouda' that was selected as one of the '10 Best TV Series' by the New York Times.

The Tattooist is Guy Shoval

Miri and Ari Wallisch's Rosh Hashanah greeting card.  The poster designed by Otto Wallisch celebrates the appearance of the Shamir Brothers 1949 Stamp series for Moadim Lesimcha 1949

 Based on the figure of the soldier on the 1/2 pound bill of the Shamir brothers

The olive branches are taken from the state emblem 10.2.1949

This is an advertisement for the "reserve" pool of directors in government companies. Someone came up with the nickname "selected" for this reserve to upgrade its status. This gave rise to the idea for this design - football team selection. The companies, whose logos appear on the ball, are some of the largest government companies.

How the new government will shape the country in the coming years - this is the theme of the 2022 forecast conference of the newspaper "Calcalist".
Designer Gideon Amichay believes that even in Israel's 73rd year, there is still much to enhance and perfect. Next to the sketch of the national emblem, Amichai placed painting equipment in the printed ad

 The poster incorporates within it a complete earlier Shamir poster

See a story related to this poster

 Photos by Iran Litvin

Digital book "Stories from the Land of My Love - Book Four" by Mordechai Naor, 2017 used the Shamir brothers poster for Israel's eighth Independence Day

In the book "My Jerusalem" 2020 by Joshua Lebanon, a chapter is dedicated to The Exhibition of the Decade.  The accompanying illustration by Daria Moses - was inspired by the stamp of the Decade designed by the Shamir brothers in 1958.

These paintings were painted during the first COVID lockdown using diluted acrylic paints

Found on the Ynet website on 13th March. The artist used the figure from the Shamir designed 1/2 lira banknote of 1959, but turned her around (on the banknote she looks over her left shoulder).

The Shamir Brothers poster for May 1, 1954 will appear in the French animated film "My Father's Secret" directed by Vera Belmon. The film is based on the graphic novel "The Second Generation" by Michel Kishka. This will be the second time of a Shamir-Kishka collaboration: the main character of the 1939 Hapoel poster was incorporated by Kishka in his 2018 book "Falafel with Spicy" 

Article by Noam Barkan and Amira Lam on crushing the Foreign Ministry by Benjamin Netanyahu, Design: Tamir Mashraki. Yedioth Ahronoth 18.10.19 

Advertisement from the Nature and Parks Authority announcing an audiovisual show at Beit Shearim National Park

Michel Kichka's graphic novel "Falafel sauce piquante" shows a copy of a poster of the "Hapoel" Sports Association, designed by the Shamir Brothers in 1939

Teaser on the front page of an article about Yossi Cohen, the head of the Mossad, Yedioth Ahronoth 20/08/2019

and
Illustration for article "Operation Balfour" about Yossi Cohen by Amira Lem, Raviv Golan 7 days / Yedioth Ahronoth 20/09/2019

Note that the artist superimposed the frame, olive branches and the word ISRAEL on a picture of the Titus arch thus including the original Menorah in the image.

The tomb of Gideon Ezra, on which the General Security Services (Shin Beit) emblem and the State and Knesset emblems are inscribed 

Today, the Chief Rabbinate began a campaign on the kosher process. Since there are all kinds of "Kashrut" in the country, the Chief Rabbinate calls its kosher "state kosher". To emphasise this the ad designer used elements of the state emblem. Aug 2019

The "Shavuot Supplement" of Maariv (7.6.19) includes a series of articles entitled "Historical Pictures"
of Israel. Alongside the articles are advertisements printed especially for the series.
Tnuva publishes the original cottage cheese container designed by the Shamir brothers together with the current design sold in stores today.

You don't need to be a genius like Einstein to know that the Savings and Loans bank is the best. Haolam Hazee 1969 

At the entrance to the waiting hall at Ben Gurion Airport is a screen on which works by the Shamir brothers are screened one by one. May 2019

During a Ynet election interview on 24 March 2019 two Shamir posters were noticed displayed on a screen on the wall in the background. 

March 2019

"Do not Discard Waste Paper" This Shamir brothers from World War II poster appears on the back cover of the new issue of Yad Ben Zvi's magazine "Catedra". The subtitle explains everything: the paper is brought in ships - the ships are needed to transport war materials. Additional posters on paper saving (in three languages) illustrate an article on the struggle for paper for the printing of newspapers by Limor and Blubstein-Nevo. A Jewish Agency recruitment poster "Revenge and Redemption" by Shamir, illustrates the article "Rabbi Binyamin and his attitude towards Nazism and the Holocaust" by Hava Eshkoli-Wegman.

The emblem was designed by Shamir Brothers  

We do not know who designed this FDC but almost certainly not the Shamir brothers  

We do not know who designed this FDC but almost certainly not the Shamir brothers  

We do not know who designed this FDC but almost certainly not the Shamir brothers  

We do not know who designed this FDC but almost certainly not the Shamir brothers  

We do not know who designed this FDC but almost certainly not the Shamir brothers  

We do not know who designed this FDC but almost certainly not the Shamir brothers  

We do not know who designed this FDC but almost certainly not the Shamir brothers  

We do not know who designed this FDC but almost certainly not the Shamir brothers  

We do not know who designed this FDC but almost certainly not the Shamir brothers  

We do not know who designed this FDC but almost certainly not the Shamir brothers  

We do not know who designed this FDC but almost certainly not the Shamir brothers  

We do not know who designed this FDC but almost certainly not the Shamir brothers  

The design on this FDC is not by Shamir brothers.The FDC was designed and produced by ArtCraft -  ArtCraft was part of Washington Stamp Exchange from 1939. It stopped producing FDCs in 2015.

The design on this FDC is not by Shamir brothers.The FDC was designed and produced by ArtCraft -  ArtCraft was part of Washington Stamp Exchange from 1939. It stopped producing FDCs in 2015.

The design on this FDC is not by Shamir brothers.The FDC was designed and produced by ArtCraft -  ArtCraft was part of Washington Stamp Exchange from 1939. It stopped producing FDCs in 2015.

The design on this FDC is not by Shamir brothers.The FDC was designed and produced by ArtCraft -  ArtCraft was part of Washington Stamp Exchange from 1939. It stopped producing FDCs in 2015.

The design on this FDC is not by Shamir brothers.The FDC was designed and produced by ArtCraft -  ArtCraft was part of Washington Stamp Exchange from 1939. It stopped producing FDCs in 2015.

The design on this FDC is not by Shamir brothers.The FDC was designed and produced by ArtCraft -  ArtCraft was part of Washington Stamp Exchange from 1939. It stopped producing FDCs in 2015.

The design on this FDC is not by Shamir brothers.The FDC was designed and produced by ArtCraft -  ArtCraft was part of Washington Stamp Exchange from 1939. It stopped producing FDCs in 2015.

The design on this FDC is not by Shamir brothers.The FDC was designed and produced by ArtCraft -  ArtCraft was part of Washington Stamp Exchange from 1939. It stopped producing FDCs in 2015.

The design on this FDC is not by Shamir brothers.The FDC was designed and produced by ArtCraft -  ArtCraft was part of Washington Stamp Exchange from 1939. It stopped producing FDCs in 2015.

The design on this FDC is not by Shamir brothers.The FDC was designed and produced by ArtCraft -  ArtCraft was part of Washington Stamp Exchange from 1939. It stopped producing FDCs in 2015.

We do not know who designed this FDC but almost certainly not the Shamir brothers  

The designer wanted to present the achievements of the various schools as an official document (there is no such document in reality). What did he do? He placed the State emblem at the top of the "Certificate" and created a framework of the olive branches that appear in the State emblem. The article also features two more "certificates" that show parameters of school functioning.

The Israeli passport has become a hot trend in the Russian economic elite. The fear of Putin has doubled the number of immigrants who are entitled to freedom of movement to tax exceptions and to the coveted card of the Kupat Holim health service.

Live sculpture by Dafna Levanon, Rehovot International Festival of Life Sculptures, 2018

The Shamir poster "From the City to the Village" appears in the book "Israeli Lessons - Arcadia Industrial" published by the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne this year. Editors: Harry Gogger and others. Two posters were designed by the Shamir brothers in the 1950s for a campaign of the Histadrut.

 

The President's Award for Volunteerism is awarded every year by the President of the State to bodies, institutions and organizations, individuals or groups of volunteers who work exceptionally well in their contribution to society.

Today (29 June 2018) ads of "The Art of Israeli Discourse" first appeared in the local papers. In order to give it a taste of Israeli-ness and at the same time of statehood, the designer built a logo with the olive branches from the state emblem.

On the occasion of Israel's 70th year, a self-published book on the history of the Israeli currency was published by Yigal Arkin, "Currency through Time - The Story of a State". The works of Shamir Brothers - banknotes and coins - are extensively covered. For the 1959 Shamir designed banknote series depicting various characters the author includes photographs of the people who served as models for the Shamir brothers. Most of these models were identified and named by the author.

Designers were asked by the curator Nadav Barkan to propose their interpretation of the Seven - branched Menorah on the 70th anniversary of the state with reference to the State Emblem that has become a major element in the country's visual culture. The project was called: The 490 branches (70 years x 7 branches for each Menorah). Displayed are a number of the entries.

The olive branch was taken from the State Emblem with slight straightening

The Jabotinsky Institute's website added an exhibition about the Irgun and Lehi fighters who were illegally deported by the British Mandate to British territories in Africa. The figure of the prisoner on the opening slide is taken from a poster designed by the Shamir brothers in 1944.

 using anagrams of the Hebrew word Ma'ariv.

 The cover of the almanac of the Jewish Liberators Society of Latvia “The Liberator”

Items in the official house of the Israeli ambassador to Austria.

This fascinating Bauhaus building used to belong to Erich Muller who was the Israeli industrialist who founder of the ATA textiles factory in 1934. 

 Association of Israelis of Central European Origin

 The National Library published a 2017-18 calendar of posters from its collection from the beginning of the state. It includes 2 posters of the Histadrut designed by the Shamir brothers. October 2017

These two vitrages created by Paolo Paschetto in 1912/13 are exhibited at the Musei di Villa Torlonia in Rome. Their inclusion of the Arch of Titus menorah reminds us of the State Emblem of Israel. Pictures taken by Dr. Christine Burstein on a visit to Rome in 2017.

is using figures from the Shamir  50 lira banknote as decoration at the bottom of its home page 

A protest poster made by Meretz as an adaptation of the State emblem following Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu's statement that "We will not allow the state to become a LGBT place".  Meretz claims that we are already an LGBT and that this is not a bad thing.  Designed by Yoav Einhar.  July 2017

 Invitation to: What a wonderful country! - Posters designed in Israel by the Shamir brothers 1939-1970.  Exhibition in The City Gallery, Kfar Saba. Opening 22 June 2017.

Image from the Open Discussion day at the exhibition, 24 July 2017

Following the approval of the Basic Law: Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people - it received a "high-bad" score from the "Rating Committee" section in Ha'aretz supplement, 13.5.17

Update: Galia Bador, the director of the DocAviv Festival, which will open next week in Tel Aviv, removed from the festival's web-site the poster that was illegally copied from Shamir's 1946 Maccabi poster..

May 2017

This week, Shenkar College launched the digital book "Between Idea and Form" by Batia Donner, which describes the history of graphic design in the Land of Israel. 

A slide presentation "Recruitment Posters in Palestine" of posters by the Shamir brothers opened a meeting on "Jewish soldiers during World War II" at the Tel Aviv University. 

Help build the State of Israel, United Israel Appeal, Unknown artist, 1950s, poster produced in Argentina in Spanish and Yiddish

 A jewel belonging to a secretary at the Mor Institute. She told us that her father RIP wore it all his life and since his passing she is wearing it.

 Two posters by the Shamir Brothers from World War II appear in a new book by Daniel Gordis "Israel - A Concise History of a Nation Reborn".     "Join the Army - Enlist for their safety" aimed to recruit volunteers to the British army, and "Give a rescuing hand" - aimed at raising funds for jews escaping to Israel. The book credits the National Archives but does not mention the designers.

Feb 2017

The Jeckes (Yekkes) Museum announcement published in the "Yakinton". Designed: Natalie Peleg. It includes posters Okava (late 30s) and Shelltox (50s) designed by Shamir Brothers

 The design by an unknown artist for the chapter heading is based on Shamir Brothers 1st May Poster "One hand doing the work and the other holding the weapon' 1954 Histadrut

 The Chatteris Music Society in Cambridgeshire, England chose to use an element from the Shamir brothers poster for the Philharmonic Orchestra from 1961 on the front cover of its 2017 concerts programme

House entrance sign in Ramat Gan, 2016, inspired by Ma'ariv logo designed by

 Liam Meyer, Shiran Moses, Eden Saadon and Noam Hayat designed this label for "Lofu" a combination of canned beef with Tofu. Their design has some similarities to the Shamir brothers design for the corned beef "Loaf" label from 1951.

Tnuva is celebrating its 90th anniversary.

 Seven Shamir Brothers posters are included in the "Justify your Existence" exhibit at the Herbert and Eileen Bernard museum of Judaica in Temple Emanuel Fifth Avenue, New York. The exhibition of 40 posters from the private collection of the late Dr. Alfred Moldovan. Most posters are in Hebrew and some in Yiddish. The exhibition was opened in May 2014 and was planned to close in late October, but was extended to January 2015.

 Letter sent to Dennis Hazafon in November 2014

Uri Shamir, the editor of the English version of this site, warned the auction house "Jerusalem of Gold" that, to the best of his knowledge, six items offered for sale on December 9, 2014, allegedly baring the signature of his father, the late Maxim Shamir, are carrying forged signatures! The items include: first Day Cover of the stamp of the Negev 1950, the Jerusalem stamp memorial sheet 1949, the Congress XXIII stamp sheet with the Herzl stamp 1951 and the Mo'adim Lesimha (Festivals) stamps sheet 1949.

 A Shamir Brothers poster has been used on the cover of a new Israel National Labour Federation booklet of posters produced since its inception in 1934 until today.The poster was used without permission and without giving credit. If that were not enough, the greatest effrontery is that this was the only poster in the booklet that was not produced on behalf of the Labour Federation - it was a Herut party poster!. The booklet designers erased the logo of the Herut movement and quotations of Herzl and Jabotinsky. In their place they inserted in the Shamir 1954 poster the date of publication of this booklet: July 2014.

 See article by Zvi Lavi:   Israeli Banknotes hidden in Gaza and the west Bank (Hebrew)

 See Zvi Lavi's article (in Hebrew)

 Israel's official State seal .  The seal is stamped on official documents of the State of Israel, in accordance with the Law of 1949 and State Seal  Regulations, 1974.

 Ad for a seminar at Beit Hagdudim published in the newspaper "Haaretz" on 14/02/14. The ad uses a poster designed by Shamir Brothers in 1942 that was designed to encourage Eretz Israel women to volunteer to the Women's Auxiliary Corps (ATS) in the British Army during World War II. The ad's heading is taken from the poster's header banner which was taken from Isaiah 52/1 (the original verse was meant for the residents of the city of Jerusalem).

A British army recruiting poster during World War II, designed by Shamir Brothers, is the central illustration of the invitation by Beit Hagdudim Museum. Even the name of the event is taken from the heading of the poster - a quote from Isaiah

 Link to Rotem Dayan Palma's web-site