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TEL AVIV-PARIS OF THE EAST

6—THE JEWISH NEWS

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Art Is Important Part o 'Everyday bfe in Israel

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Friday, Oct. 1, 1948.

By M- AXINE R. LEVIN

Art Editor of The Jewish News.

"Tel Aviv is the Paris of the East," so the
soldiers and tourists report. Side walk cafes,
theaters, concerts. and art- exhibitions.
It all started some 20-odd years ago in Tel
Aviv, with Jerusalem and Haifa following suit.
Now the art activity in Israel is an important part
of everyday living, from traveling art exhibits
throughout the country to, private galleries,
museums and public patronage.
Credit for the art movement in
Israel goes to the artists who in
1928, founded the "Association of
Palestine Painters and Sculptors,"
and interested the first mayor of
Tel-Aviv, Meir Dizengoff, who
founded the Tel-Aviv museum,
first housed in the upper floors of
the mayor's home. In 1931, a simple
modern structure was completed
and the Tel-Aviv museum attract-
Mrs.
ed, world wide attention.
Contributions were received from American
and European artists as well as patrons, in partic-
Exhibition Hall for Graphics at Tel Aviv Museum
ular Maurice Lewin of Antwerp, who contributed
many fine examples of Dutch art. Today, this
quisite examples of candelabra, scrolls, altars, etc.
`Art of the Written Word'
museum shows many new exhibitions each month,
are traceable to the art of the country in which
has an art library of over 3,500 art books, thousands
Primarily, I agree with Trude- Weiss-Ros-
of prints, and is an integral part of the life of the marin, who has written a series' of articles stating the artist •a-bored. While there is no Jewish art,
to my way of linking, there have been some fine
city.
that there., is no Jewish art. Dr. Weiss-Rosmarin
The Bezalel Museum.
points out that the true or traditional . art of the
The Bezalel Museum, in the Rockefeller Build- Jews is the art df the written word. Those familiar
Linesman
ing in Jerusalem, functions primarily as an educa- with the writing and compiling'of the Bible, with
(water color)
the
study
of
the
Talmud
and
the
oral
law,
must
tional museum. This museum arranges traveling
exhibitions, sponsors contemporary art and re- agred with her.
By Boy
cently completed an excellent exhibition of child-
I have looked over the magnifiCent ceremonial
Aged II
ren's art of Palestine. Both museums feature art art in the. Jewish Museum in New York and come
without regard to race, creed or time, although
the Tel-Aviv museum stresses all art pertaining
to the Bible.
craftsmen among the Jews where Jews were per-
Daily and weekly newspapers regularly print
mitted_to enter the field of art, and today, where
an art column, private art galleries in Tel-Aviv
Jews are free to enter any field of art, there is a
and Jerusalem hang many one-man shows. Haifa
remarkable percentage of high attainment in the
is fast becoming art conscious, opening many new
fine arts, considering the numerical population of
art galleries.
world Jewry
The pecular sunlight and atmosphere of Israel
`A Source of Pride'
provides quite a technical problem for the artist.
That
this
new
country of Israel is art conscious
The glaring light, transparency of the rarified at-
and is fast developing its own national artists, is
mosphere and confusing visibility, where on an
therefore no great, surprise, but it is a source of
average -day, one can see as far as 50 miles, is most
pride to us that the Jews of Israel are productive
perplexing.

First Rate Artists

Despite the difficulty of painting in Palestine,
a large number of first rate artists have appeared
on the scene. Jacob Steinhardt, Rubin Zaritsky,
Gutman, Melnikoff, Castel, Kahn, Marcel, Jancu,
to name a few of the most prominent.
Rubin, whose studio is in Tel-aviv, is well
known in this country and abroad; his works are
in private and public collections here in France.

In The

Tel Aviv's New Museum of Modern Art-
.

Designed by CARL RUBIN

Orange Grove

(water color)

By Girl,

away with a terrific sense of pride in the Jews as
artisans, as craft workers of extraordinarily good
taste and sincerity. But in none of the fine, tra-
ditional pieces on view is there evidence of a true,
pure strain of art that could be labeled typically
Jewish in motive or character. Throughout the
years the Jews have been influenced by the art of
the country in which they lived. The most ex-

Aged 13

in this field as well. Art is accepted in Israel as part
of the education and life of the people, not as an
intellectual interest of the chosen few. Here, again,
is evidence of the energy and tenor of the people
of this newest and youngest of all countries .

New York Jewish Museum Fosters
odern, Traditional Art of Judaism

By LEONARD FINE

family mansion to the Seminary in memory of her hus-
band, her father, Jacob H. Schiff, and her brother, Mor-
The Jewish Museum which is housed in the home
timer Schiff.
of the late Felix M. Warburg at Fifth Avenue and 92nd
St., New York City, was opened to the public in May,
The Museum's emphasis on the art of our own time
1947. Conducted by the Jewish Theological Seminary of
is reflected in the space devoted to such an exhibit as
America, the Museum represents one more phase of the
that of Ben-Zion, whose paintings and drawings on
Seminary's far-ranging program for acquainting Amer-
biblical subjects recently occupied the entire first floor
icans of a 11 faiths
- of the Museum:
with the beauty and
The projected program for the coming year will
dignity inherent in
continue to stress the achievements of 20th century
Judaism.
figures in the arts." Early this fall an exhibit of paintings
In the span of a lit-
arranged in cooperation with the Congress of World
tle more than a year
Jewish Culture will be presented. This will be follow-
since the Museum
ed in the early winter with an exhibit of paintings by
presented its inau-
the late Isidor Kaufman who died in Vienna in 1921.
gural exhibition.
But ,the function of the Museum goes far beyond
"The Giving of the
the art of our . own day. Through its permanent collec-
Law and the Ten
tion of art objects, which date as far back as the 13th
century, the .Museum is, in reality, an integral part of
Comma n dments,"
the American educational system. Reflecting the his-
more than 75,000
torical aspect of the Museum's activity during the cur-
Americans from every
rent season, a room will soon be opened to house an
part of the United
exhibit dedicated to the State of Israel. The new room
will feature the art of old Palestine and of the new
States a n d Canada
State and will stand as a 'symbol of the cultural ties
have viewed the im-
between American Jewry and the Yishuv.
pressive panor ama
which symbolizes the
Doming the late fall, the Museum will also hold a
history of the Jewish
broad scale -exhibit of its collection of Hanukah lamps
people.
with examples drawn from every age and every land.
The Museum might
The basic aim of the Museum is one which it has
have remained an ad-
followed since its inception and is probably best sum-
junct of the Library
marized By Doctor Louis Finkelstein, president of the
had it not been for the
JewiSh - Theological Seminary, who -said: "It is the pur-
generosity of Mrs. 18th Century Russian Hanukah
pose of the Jewish Mueum, that each book, art object,
Felix M. Warburg. On
and painting illustrate, in its own way, the singular
Menorah,
five
feet
high,
at
the
Jan. , 14, 1944, Mrs.
beauty of Jewish life, as ordained in the laws of Moses,
Warburg donated the Jewish Museum.
developed in the Talmud and embellished in tradition. '

ICopyright 1948, Seven Arts)

"Eve of Sabbath in Safed"

By NAHUM GUTMAN

Rubin is one of the pioneers of modern art in Pal-
, estine-, having studied there as a boy, returning
early to make his • home in Israel. His many can-
vasses interpret the shimmering light of the land-
scape-in an individual manner, emotionally in
appeal, brilliant in color.

Modern Art Pioneer

Marcel Jancu, of the abstract group, is another
pioneer of modern art in Palestine. With broad
and exciting line he has depicted the life and the
people of Palestine, and his still-lifes of fruit and
produce of the country are among the fine contri-
butions to art. Castel is one of the newer artists,
whose paintings are whimsical and sensitive, while
Leo , Lubin and Elias Newman (now in this
country) must be included in any listing of fine
artists in Palestine.
So there is plenty going on the field of art in
Israel. While these men are all Jews, and painting
the Jewish scene, they do not necessarily consti-
tute any rejuvenation of Jewish art, nor do they
make up a distinctive Jewish art.