Chaim Weizmann Signed Photograph of his 60th Birthday Portrait.

[WEIZMANN, Chaim]; Sir Oswald Birley.

$1,250.00

Item Number: 146614

Rare signed photograph portrait of the future first President of Israel, Chaim Weizmann on his 60th birthday. Silver gelatin photograph of an original oil on canvas portrait of Weizmann done by British portrait artist Sir Oswald Birley in 1934 on the occasion of Weizmann’s 60th birthday. Signed by Weizmann in the lower right corner, “C Weizmann.” Mounted on cardboard. In very good condition with diagonal creasing across the image, minor toning to the edges. The piece measures 10 inches by 8.225 inches. The Birley portrait of Weizmann exists in the collection of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. It was gifted to Weizmann by Lord Marcus Sieff, Baron Sieff of Brimpton, a prominent British Jewish advocate of Zionism who, after 1948, advised Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion on transportation and logistics in the newly created state of Israel, and also joined the Israeli Defense Forces.

Chaim Azriel Weizmann was a Zionist leader and Israeli statesman who served as President of the Zionist Organization and later as the first President of Israel. He was elected on 16 February 1949, and served until his death in 1952. Weizmann convinced the United States government to recognize the newly formed state of Israel. Weizmann was also a biochemist who developed the acetone–butanol–ethanol fermentation process, which produces acetone through bacterial fermentation. His acetone production method was of great importance for the British war industry during World War I. He founded the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel and was instrumental in the establishment of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.