Raymond Moretti was a French painter. He was born in Nice on July 23, 1931 and died in Paris on June 3, 2005. He was born to Italian parents who fled the Fascist Italy of Mussolini. His father was a Tuscan carpenter and anarchist and his mother an Umbrian cleaning lady. Jazz was an important part of the artist's life, and Moretti painted his first important work to the sound of Count Basie playing on a hand-wound phonograph. Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and Thelonious Monk all posed for him. The 1960s saw the publication of Moretti Verve, a series of 12 LPs recorded by the greatest names of Jazz, the covers illustrated by the painter. These covers are now collector's items. Moretti adapted the abstract art he used so effectively for jazz illustrations in his art for the Haggadah. He uses color and abstract design together with letters from the Hebrew alphabet to invoke the grandeur of the Exodus from Egypt and to even create the effect of sound in his art The Raymond Moretti Haggadah Moretti's abstract art blends Modernism and Jewish Mysticism. The explosive energy of his art is barely contained by the limits of the page. Moretti's illustrations do not necessarily appear in relation to a specific section of the Haggadah text but rather make dramatic statements concerning the Exodus story often using letters from the Hebrew alphabet as elements in their most abstract form. Haggadah de la Cinqui?me coupe (The Haggadah of the 5th Cup). Illustrated by Raymond Moretti (1931-2005), original calligraphy by Asher Amar. [Paris?]: Editions Armand & Georges Israel, 1980. Text in Hebrew with French translation