TRAVEL

Art And
II IN

ACtIVIS111

The paintings of Joel Rohr
capture all aspects of Israel.

RUTH ROVNER

Special to The Jewish News

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eated in his gallery in
Jerusalem, where the
stone walls are cov-
ered with his paint-
ings, Joel Rohr recalls
how unexpectedly his career
as an artist began over 60
>---' years ago.
Back in 1927, he was 15
and living in New York after
) his family emigrated from
Poland. Attending school on
the Lower East Side, he could
barely speak a word of Eng-
lish. So he sat uncomfortably
and restless in the classroom.
"To keep me occupied, my
teacher gave me a paper and
crayons, and I started to
draw," Mr. Rohr recalls. "I sat
in class and made drawings
all day. One day the teacher
looked at them and asked,
`Would you like to go to art
school?' "
The young artist was to be-
come one of Israel's most
prominent painters.
Joel Rohr, who settled in Is-
rael (then Palestine) in 1945,
) has had his works exhibited
all over Israel and the Unit-
ed States.
He was the first Israeli in-
vited to the National Muse-
um of Mexico, and he
represented Israel in "Expo
67" in Montreal. He's also ex-
hibited in varied museums
and art centers including the
prestigious Museum of Mod-
ern Art in New York.
The paintings, wherever
they've been shown, have fo-

L

cused on one ma-
jor theme: Israel.
Capturing his
country on can-
vas, rendering
its m000ds, its
geography, history and
beauty, has always been his
goal. "I even changed my style
from abstract to realism so
that people would really know
that they were looking at Is-
rael, and so that they would
be reminded of the history of
our people," says the artist.

He's a slender man with
keen blue eyes and white
hair, who is friendly and
welcoming to visitors. He's
nearing 80 now, and he still
paints every day.
His gallery on Yemin
Moshe Street, just steps from
the historic Montefiore wind-
mill in Jerusalem, is open to
visitors, and there are many
who stop in to admire the oil
paintings, serigraphs and
watercolors.
There are paintings of
David's Tower and the
Jerusalem hills, of orchards
and olive trees, desert and
sea.
In his book The Israel Land-
scapes and People are 86
reproductions of his work.
They include the artist's view
of the cactus (the sabra) and
cyclamen, Eilat Bay, the Tim-
na copper mines, Haifa Bay,
Masada, the Negev, the
vineyards of Ein Gedi.
There are many scenes of
kibbutz life, painted from
first-hand experience. For
many years the artist and his

Artist Joel Rohr
in his Jerusalem studio.

Photo by Ruth Rovner

family lived on Kibbutz Kfar
Menachem.
"Because I believed in this
kibbutz, I chose it as the main
theme for my paintings," says
Mr. Rohr, who joined the kib-
butz movement while he was
still in New York City. Years
later, when he and his late
wife Etta finally had the
chance to immigrate, they
went straight from the boat to
the kibbutz.
"I was even more surprised
than I expected to be," says
Joel Rohr. "Until I saw it, I
didn't realize how far advanc-
ed the kibbutz life was in
terms of the brotherhood of
mankind."
Mr. Rohr participated fully
in that brotherhood, getting
up at sunrise, working as a
farmer, sharing in the com-
munal chores. Late at night,
he did his painting and sent
them off to the gallery in New
York which still represents
him.
When the paintings sold —
and they always did — he
turned the proceeds over to
the kibbutz. In time, the kib-
butz members realized he was
more valuable to them as an
artist than as a field worker,

and he was released from
agricultural duties to paint
and to teach art in the kib-
butz high school.
His paintings also deal with
Israel's history — and this,
too, is something he knows
from first-hand experience. As
a young man he joined the
Haganah, the Jewish defense
force. He fought in the War of
Independence (1948), the Six-
Day War (1967) and the Yom
Kippur War (1973). "To think
that I'm still alive — it's a
miracle!" marvels Mr. Rohr.
Jerusalem is a recurrent
theme in his work. In 1968,
he opened a studio in the
Yemin Moshe artists' colony
in Jerusalem. He was one of
the pioneer artists who
started the colony.
"The idea was to have a
creative community and
Mayor Teddy Kollek helped to
start it," explains Mr. Rohr.
Yemin Moshe, which is now
a picturesque area between
the Old City and the new, was
the first Jewish community
built outside of the walled Old
City. By the time Mayor
Kollek got the idea for an ar-
tists' quarter, it had fallen in-
to disrepair.

That's why artists were in-
vited to settle in the area. For
a fee, they were given a house
to live and work in, provided
that they would also under-
take the repairs. "When I got
it, the place was mostly in
ruins," recalls Mr. Rohr. He
renovated it and later built
an addition for his studio and
living quarters.
Of the 25 founding artists
who first started Yemin
Moshe as an artists' colony,
Joel Rohr is one of five who
have stayed.
In back of the gallery, which
is open to visitors and where
Mr. Rohr is on hand to meet
them personally, is his studio,
a large and airy space with a
drawing table. Paintings are
all around.
Symbols of Israel, images of
Israel, hopes for Israel — all
this he has conveyed on can-
vas during a lifetime of
painting.
The desire to share his
country with others has
always been the prime
motivation of his art. "I try to
express myself," he says, "so
that everybody can unders-
tand my people, my country,
the land around me." ❑