Natan Heber was born in Złoczów, Poland. As a child he attended the heder, and when he grew up he became a ritual slaughterer like his father and grandfather before him. As a child he liked to paint, and used to decorate the synagogue walls with religious symbols. In 1936 he arrived in Palestine with his wife and children, and settled in Haifa. He opened a butcher shop on Mt. Carmel, which he co-managed with his wife until 1963, when he fell ill and was forced to quit working. Then, at the age of 60, he took up painting.

- The discovery -
Heber began exhibiting his work in the late 1960s at Goldman Gallery,
Haifa, Debel Gallery, Jerusalem, as well as in exhibitions in Copenhagen
and Cologne, and in the group exhibition "Naive Art" staged at the Tel Aviv Museum in 1970.

- The work -
Heber created his f irst works in pencil on paper; subsequently, he shifted
to oil on board. His f irst painting portrays his family (each of the f igures
is identif ied by name) seated around the table in their village. His next
paintings continued that initial motivation: to resurrect the shtetl, with
its views and people, through painting. He depicted most of the f igures in
his own image, and most of the women-in the image of his wife, Rachel. One senses that Heber wholly identif ied himself with his relatives and shtetl friends who perished in the Holocaust; alternatively, the shtetl blended with everyday life in Haifa. His color palette was dark and somber; despite the childlike style, his paintings were inspired by gloom.