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Yohanan Simon, an Israeli painter, was known for his murals paintings. He was one of the founders of Oranim College. Simon was born in 1905 in Berlin, Germany. He studied art at the University of Berlin and from 1926, at the art academy in Frankfurt on the River Main, where he studied painting with Max Beckmann and drawing with Peter Rasmussen, who influenced him greatly. In 1928 he moved to France, where met the French painter Andre Derain, the co-founder of Fauvism, who greatly influenced his painting style.
In 1931 he attended the Ecole Des Beaux-arts, and worked as the artistic and graphic editor of the weekly cartoon "W." In 1934 he was sent by the magazine to help set up a branch of "Vogue" in New York, where he worked with the artist Diego Riviera on his huge mural in Rockefeller Center.
Simon came in 1936 to Israel and joined Kibbutz Gan Shmuel, where he worked as a manual laborer. Only after several years, the kibbutz permitted him one day a week for painting. He was active in the Kibbutz Artzi Painters and Sculptors Organization and later was appointed the graphic editor of the Al Hamishmar newspaper. In 1953 he left the kibbutz, moved to Tel Aviv and opened a studio. In 1962 he moved Herzliya and had a studio in the Artists' Village Ein Hod.
Yohanan Simon executed a number of murals for Israeli ships, public buildings and hotels, including Bank of Israel offices in New York and a hotel in Côte d'Ivoire. He also illustrated books and designed stage-sets.
Yohanan Simon died in 1976.

Education

1926 Art School in Frankfurt,Germany, Painting with Max Beckmann, and Drawing with Peter Rasmusen,
Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, Germany
1928 Andree Deren, Fauvism in Paris, France
1931-34 École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France

Awards And Prizes

1938 Dizengoff Prize for Painting and Sculpture
1946 Dizengoff Prize for Painting and Sculpture
1966 Gold Medal for Group Exhibition at an international exhibition for women, Vichy, France
1951 Congress of Jewish Culture Prize, New York City
1952 Dizengoff Prize for Painting and Sculpture
1956 Israel Olympic Committee Prize
1958 Ramat Gan Sculpture Prize
1960 The Histadrut Prize
1961 Dizengoff Prize for Painting and Sculpture, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Municipality of Tel Aviv-Jaffa