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Ephraim Moses Lilien (Maurycy Lilien), an art nouveau illustrator and print-maker, was born in Drohobycz, Galicia in 1874, was particularly noted for his art on Jewish and Zionist themes. He is sometimes called the "first Zionist artist."
In 1889-1893 Lilien learned painting and graphic techniques at the Academy of Arts in Kraków. He studied under Polish painter Jan Matejko from 1890 to 1892.
As a member of the Zionist Movement, Lilien traveled to the Land of Israel several times between 1906 and 1918. Lilien was one of the two artists to accompany Boris Schatz to the Land of Israel in 1906 for the purpose of establishing Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, and taught the school's first class in 1906 and designed the school's logo. Although his stay in the country was short-lived, he left his indelible stamp on the creation of an Eretz Israel style, placing biblical subjects in the Zionist context and oriental settings, conceived in an idealized Western design. In the first two decades of the century, Lilien's work served as a model for the Bezalel group.
Ephraim Moses Lilien died in 1925, in Germany.

Education

1890-92 Academy of Arts in Kraków with Jahn Metikoand, Vienna
1892 Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna

Teaching

1906 Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design, Jerusalem, taught first class.