Leon Israel

Leon Israel was born on December 12, 1887 in Pinsk in the Russian Empire,^[2][3][4] modern-day Belarus. He was educated both in religious schools as well as a Russian school.^[2] He came to the United States in 1905,^[2][3][4] when he was 18.

In 1909 Israel published his first caricature, that of Jacob Gordin, for the weekly magazine Der groyser kundes under his pseudonym "Lola".^[2][3] He also illustrated various Yiddish books, and in 1953 he published a picturebook, Di amoliker ist said in bilder (The East Side of Yesteryear in Pictures), which depicts immigrants in Manhattan during the early 20th century.^[2][3][4]

After his death in 1955, The New York Times produced an obituary of Israel.^[3] He was cited by future Jewish-American artist Eli Valley as an influence.^[5] The 2020 book How Yiddish Changed America and How America Changed Yiddish, an anthology of American Yiddish literature, describes Israel as a "prolific and talented cartoonist".^[6]

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  "Open for Business – Help Wanted!": A caricature of factory-owners after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, 1911^[7]
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  Lady Peace tries to pull the United States away from the saloon of the war god Mars, an allegory for the World War I, 1915^[6]
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  A Jewish father mourns his sons after World War I, 1918.
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  Illustration of the Jewish parable of "The Four Sons", 1920