Igael Tumarkin was born in 1933 in Dresden, Germany. Immigrated to Israel in 1935. He studied art with the sculptor Rudi Lehman at Ein Hod, and in 1955 returned to Germany where he worked at the Berliner Ensemble with Bertolt Brecht. He worked in Europe until 1961 as a sculptor and set designer. His travels took him to Africa, the Near and Far East, and to the USA, where he lived for several years. Since the end of the Seventies he has been living and working in Tel Aviv.
Tumarkin has worked extensively in the medium of printmaking, producing over three hundred prints. He was encouraged by the print studios founded during those years in the USA, where prominent artists such as Jasper Jones and Robert Rauschenberg began to engage in printmaking.
Tumarkin prints of the sixties were at crossroads between Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art, and between Pop Art and abstract movements that followed. In addition, he was influenced by the Surrealism and Dada movements whose impact was expressed in the combination of free brushstrokes and drip paintings together with the use of such materials as newspaper cuttings, photographs and junk.
Tumarkin has participated in various international exhibitions, and won many awards. His works are displayed in private collections and in museums both in Israel and abroad.