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Arts & Entertainment
The Writing Is On The Wall
Through a collection of charming posters, a new exhibit at the JCC's
Janice Charach Gallery tells the story of Israel's early years.
Elizabeth Applebaum
Special to the Jewish News
A
stroll along the streets of the
new State of Israel would never
have been lonely. A colorful
chorus, offering enthusiastic advice on
just about everything, was always right
there.
Use Izhar Oil!
Worker! Soldier! Settlement Man! Vote
MAKI (the Communist Party)!
[Support] the Unemployment Fund!
Drink Milk!
Give a Hand to the Transit Camps!
Buy Eggs from a Jewish Farm!
The slogans appeared on posters that
were pasted onto billboards in every
city throughout Israel. The posters
became popular in the 1920s as Jewish
culture began to develop in the country,
expanded in the 1930s when immi-
grants escaping Hitler poured into the
land and flourished in the early years
of the state's development when they
called for an army of the people, the
absorption of immigrants and support
for Zionists ("Your Children's Future
Depends on Jewish Produce").
"The Writing Is on the Wall," an exhib-
it of commercial and propaganda post-
ers from Israel, 1930-1960, opens 8:15
p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4, and runs through
Nov. 16 at the Jewish Community Center
of Metropolitan Detroit's Janice Charach
Gallery. Co-sponsored by the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit,
"Writing" features posters from the col-
lection of Israeli businessman Ronny
Douek.
The event is free and open to the
public.
"This exciting exhibit is a culmina-
tion of programming, presented by the
gallery, the JCC and the Federation, on
behalf of Israel's 60th birthday," says
Gallery Director Terri Stearn. "We're
going out with a bang!"
Ronny Douek began his collection in
1996 and was told the posters would
never be worth much. Although they are,
indeed, valuable today, Douek writes
that he was attracted only by what
the posters reveal: "ideology, values, a
national ethos and a naive outlook, as
well as the experiences and emotions
of a formative period. These posters are
fascinating and are moving landmarks
in the development of the Israeli society,
the Hebrew language, political propa-
ganda and national missions such as the
absorption of new immigrants and sup-
port for local agriculture and industry."
What is likely to charm visitors is
not only the vibrant beauty of the post-
ers — many of which were created by
immigrant artists from Germany — but
a kind of innocence which, despite the
Holocaust and wars with the Arabs,
often define the images: the profile of a
muscular man who, we assume, became
so shapely because he drank orange
juice "for strength"; a little girl, a polka-
dot scarf atop her dark hair, incredibly
happy thanks to clothes made clean
with Gal detergent; a smiling female
soldier, adorned with scarlet cheeks
and lips, helping "Shorten the Road to
Victory."
The collection also is notable for its
diversity. While many of the posters
show flags of Israel — or variations of
blue and white — and advocate sup-
port for the state, they also tout the
benefits of "Izhar's Bath-Soap, made in
Palestine, keeps the body fresh"; Nitan
perfumed soap, so full of fragrance the
bar is jumping right out of a poppy-like
flower; Shelltox for getting rid of flies
(a very important product, indeed, if
flies were in fact as large as they appear
— at least as big as a human hand — in
this poster); Mr. Clean — "the ultimate
cleaner"; mineral water; the Maccabiah;
and the need for using only well-main-
tained tools at work, a message from the
"Institute for Professional Hygiene in
Industry."
Also on exhibit in the upper gallery
is a collection of larger-than-life doves
painted by local artists. All doves are for
sale, with proceeds to benefit Israel edu-
cation programs.
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Elizabeth Applebaum is a marketing
specialist at the Jewish Community Center
of Metropolitan Detroit.
avzvl Irox 4i"1 1t'
rntrfrernrt rilLttl
'my ay? tiv '7.az
tavrtrirti
1"Mtrin 17r=
.048.403 worm 'at ftrom wts
1- e) Y11:1-*1
Independence Day, 1949, lithograph by
Buy Your Eggs from a Jewish Farm,
Yohanan Simon
lithograph by Fritz Rushkewitz
linocut by Rudy Deutsch
Dayan. Izhar was a factory built in the
1930s that, in addition to its oil, was
A poster from the Dubek Cigarette
well known for its soap and detergent.
Factory, by Franz Kraus
ltzhar
"The Writing Is on the Wall," runs Oct. 4-Nov.16 at the Janice Charach Gallery
in the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-7
p.m. Thursdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Wednesdays and noon-4 p.m. Sundays.
(248) 432-5579 or jccdet.org/culturalarts/gallery.
An opening-night reception, open to the public, begins 8:15 p.m. Saturday,
Oct. 4. Reservations are requested: (248) 432-5448 or rubin@jfmd.org .
October 2 • 2008
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