Born in Znojmo, Austria-Hungary, Wallish studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna before emigrating to Mandatory Palestine in 1934.

He played a significant role in shaping the visual identity of the nascent State of Israel, most notably by designing the scroll for the Israeli Declaration of Independence and the country's first postage stamps, known as the Doar Ivri series.

Wallish's work extended to various aspects of Israel's national symbolism, including the design of coins, banknotes, medals, and logos for major corporations.

Otte Wallish was born in 1906 in the town of Znojmo, Moravia, at the time a crown land of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (today in the Czech Republic).

In 1936, Wallish set up a design studio in a building in Nahalat Binyamin, Tel Aviv, that had been chosen as a national landmark.

Due to drafting debates beyond his control, Wallish had only finished the bottom part of the scroll by the time of the signing and announcement.

In fact, David Ben-Gurion did not read the actual scroll but had to work from handwritten notes for the public declaration on 14 May 1948.

At the direction of Ben-Gurion and the immediate guidance of Ze'ev Sharef, Secretary of the National Administration, Wallish had the hall cleared of art not related to Jews and Israel.

He chose a design based on ancient coins, found in archaeological research on the First Jewish-Roman War and the Bar Kochba Revolt.

Furthermore, in another Wallish essay, the stamps on the first day cover were prepared with the "wrong" name of the state: Yehudah (Hebrew: יהודה, cf.

[9] Wallish also contributed a variety of original designs, including stamps commemorating Petah Tikva's 70th anniversary, Israel Independence Day (1951, 52, 54, 57, and 58), World Refugee Year (1960), the 25th Zionist Congress (1960), and the centennial of the Hebrew press in Israel (with a Halbanon newspaper page in the background, 1963).

[dubious – discuss] Whereas the winning design depicts a scene looking up toward the city and the Tower of David, the Wallish artwork shows a flat approach and two religious Jews on the path to Jerusalem.

[13] In addition, Wallish designed paper currency,[3] the Israeli government's first medallion, with a coin bearing the inscription IVDAEA CAPTA (lit.

An art critic states that "We Will Immigrate (1946) by Otte Wallish (1903–1977) shows a threatening-looking barrage of ships poised to release their passengers—possibly illegal immigrants—onto Palestine's shores.