First Person Plural: Israeli Artists between the Self and the Nation, 1950s-1980s (original) (raw)

Presented at a conference at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL The Zionist Ideal in Israeli Culture: Dream and Reality November 17-19, 2013 Abstract: The paper presents an overview of the Israeli art field following the establishment of the State with regards to the relationship between artists and the State; and between art and national identity. It focuses on two exhibitions in which these issues are particularly demonstrated. The year 1948 marks not only the foundation of the State of Israel but also the foundation of the art group New Horizons, the group that is said to have introduced modern abstract art in Israel and acted to free art from traditional and national bindings. Looking more closely at the activities and ideas of the group's members and supporters will reveal that the national sentiments were highly important, and modern art was considered as having an important role in the life of the new nation. A famous incident occurred during the 1958 First Decade national exhibition: a painting by Yosef Zaritsky, the acclaimed leader of the New Horizons group was moved from its original central location by instruction of a high rank government official, probably following a criticism by the Prime Minister. A scandal broke out and the relationship between artists and State, and the concept of freedom of creative expression as against the political establishment were raised in the public debate. The story that was repeatedly told enhances a particular image of the modern artist but also conceals the commitment of Israeli artists to the national enterprise. During the 1960s and 1970s new generation of artists emerged, many of them native-born, and they were concerned, among others, with local subject matter, often relating to the new geo-political situation. A significant and influential artist of the time Raffi Lavie, became the focus of a theory that offered an answer to the question what is Israeli in Israeli art. An exhibition in 1986 at the Tel Aviv Museum, The Want of Matter, defined the art of Lavie and his following pupils as typically Tel Avivian, and subsequently Israeli. Based on stylistic analysis the theory claims to have found the specific unique quality of Israeli art that is inspired by both the local environment and the values of frugality of Socialist Zionism. It was a first attempt to mark certain art as typical Israeli based on aesthetic means rather than on subject matter.

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