Photographer and artist Yaacov Kaszemacher was raised in post-war Paris. He lived in Greenwich Village during the hay-day of the 1960”s counter-culture. There he developed his artistic style and produced psychedelic light shows for which he made hundreds of photographic slides of different subjects and special effects.

Responding to an inner call, Kaszemacher began exploring his Jewish heritage in his early thirties. At this time he immigrated to Israel eventually settling in the Holy city of Tsfat. Here he gracefully made the transition from hippie to Torah observant Hassid.

His favorite subjects were the doors, walls and walkways of Tsfat. Local Israeli nature such as cloudy skies and individual wild flowers. As well as the yearly cycle events experienced within his beloved torah and Hassidic lifestyle.

Kaszemacher experimented with different lenses, filters and films using his daily life and surroundings as his artistic subjects. He is a master in the use of multiple images to present a coherent message. He regarded photography as an opportunity to freeze memories and impressions. In his last years Yaacov explored the artistic possibilities available in computer graphics and created a large collection of computer manipulated photographs where he captured the symbols, the people and the land of Israel.

His gallery in Tsfat was an obligated stop in the Artist colony. Each photograph had a story behind it that he loved to share with his clients.

Yaacov passed away in 2011 in Israel. His passing leaves a void in Tsfat’s artistic scene.

Art & Soul Fine Art hosted an exhibition of his photography in 2005 and since then we developed a close personal relationship visiting his gallery every year and having first hand access to his latest images. We are privileged to hold a large collection of his images still hand-signed by him. He is dearly missed!