20. February 29 – April 29, 2005 (Two concurrent exhibitions)
A. BORIS SCHATZ (1866-1932):
HIS CIRCLE AND THE BEGINNING OF THE BEZALEL ART SCHOOL
FROM THE COLLECTIONS OF BELLA SCHAFER AND THE TEMPLE JUDEA MUSEUM
DESCRIPTION: In naming the school he founded, in Jerusalem in 1906, Bezalel, Boris Schatz linked the achievement of a modern arts school, contemporary to its time, to a biblical ethos. Bezalel was the first Jewish artist. For the visionary Schatz the purpose of this first art school in the Land of Israel was linked to the Zionist dream. Bezalel was to serve as a training ground for pioneering. This exhibition offered viewers a first hand look at work seldom seen in this area by both students and professors of the Bezalel School – the first art school in Zionist Palestine. Contemporary works gave an indication of the continued prominence of Bezalel as Israel’s leading art school.
B. EPHRAIM MOSES LILIEN: PRINTMAKER
Ephraim Moses Lilien attended the Zionist Congress in 1901 in Basel and joined the Democratic-Zionist faction. Lilien embodied the soul of the artistic movement within Zionism with a style that fused Art Nouveau, or Jugenstil, and Jewish imagery. Along with Boris Schatz he worked to start the Bezalel School in Jerusalem. From 1912 to 1915, Lilien created his magnificent illustrations for ‘die Bücher der Bibel’. He made three trips to Palestine during which he sketched and photographed extensively. In this exhibition were works that resulted from those travels.
