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Art in Tel Aviv

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Art exhibit in the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, in its first residence in Meir Dizengoff's home, in 1939

Art in Tel Aviv refers to the history of art in Tel Aviv, Israel as well as art produced in or depicting Tel Aviv. The first modern artists arrived from Odesa on the Ruslan in 1919, exhibiting the first modern art exhibition in the region in 1920, which was organized by Jacob Pereman. Tel Aviv first gained prominence in the Jewish Yishuv’s art scene in 1925 when Isaac Frenkel opened the first art school of modern art in Tel Aviv. In the 1920s, Tel Aviv became a magnet for artists with its art heavily influenced by the French School of Paris. The school pulled away students from Jerusalem’s Bezalel. In 1926, in the Ohel theatre exhibition, abstract artwork exhibited in Mandatory Palestine for the first time. Tel Aviv eventually eclipsed Jerusalem in its cultural role for the Jewish Yishuv.

From the 1920s to 1940s, following the influence of French art and particular of the School of Paris, Tel Aviv was often portrayed in similar fashion to Paris. The influence of French art on Tel Aviv began to wane following Israeli independence. The Tel Aviv Museum was established first in 1933 in Meir Dizengoff’s home, later moving to a building near HaBima theatre.

In late 20th century, Tel Aviv became a hub of graffiti artwork, centered in the formerly working class neighborhoods of south Tel Aviv.

History

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The Ruslan, whilst passing Istanbul

The first modern art exhibition in mandatory Palestine

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See also: Ruslan (ship) and Ha-Tomer

In 1919, the Ruslan, a ship carrying Jewish immigrants from Odesa, dubbed the "Israeli mayflower" landed in Jaffa near Tel Aviv.[1][2] Odesa was at the time the center of Jewish culture in Eastern Europe, numerous artists and intellectuals lived and worked in the city.[1][2] On board the Ruslan, came several prominent figures in Israel's cultural scene, many of whom would settle or work in Tel Aviv. Jacob Pereman, an historian and art collector brought with him 200 paintings, mostly Post impressionist works.[3] He would later exhibit these works in the Hebrew Herzliya Gymnasium in Tel Aviv. Pereman, along with Joseph Constant organized, Ha-Tomer the first Jewish art cooperative whose members were Judith and Joseph Constant, Isaac Frenkel, Miriam Had Gadya and Lev Halperin.[4][5][6] 2 of the artists: Constant and Frenkel, taught art in the Hebrew Herzliya Gymnasium.[7]

The Ha-Tomer cooperative organized the first art exhibition in 1920, held in the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium. The exhibition however lasted only a week due to the 1920 pogrom. The exhibition was a failure, with the mayor of Tel Aviv, Meir Dizengoff failing to convince even one person of buying an artwork.[8] Later, Pereman opened and maintained the first art gallery in Israel, from 1920-22 "The Permanent Art Exhibition in the Land of Israel". In order to survive, the artists would decorate ceramics and books as well painting and decorating of buildings.[9][7] In 1920, due to financial difficulties and what the artists felt was a lack of appreciation to modern art, Yitzhak Frenkel, Judith and Joseph Constant left for Egypt and then to Paris.[7] The Ha-Tomer ceased to function following their deperature.[7]

Modern art and Tel Aviv

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See also: Histadrut Art Studio
Modern Artists Exhibition at the Ohel Theatre, the Histadrut Art Studio played a major role in the exposition.

When Isaac Frenkel retruned from Paris in 1925, he opened an art school with the support of the Histadrut, a Jewish labour union.[6] In the school, Frenkel taught the students the techniques he had aquired in France, as well as aquinted the students with the modern art trends in Paris.[10] Frenkel's school was a modernist alternative to Boris Schatz's Bezalel art academy in Jerusalem which was considered orientalist in its artistic approach.[11][12] Students from Bezalel would go to Tel Aviv for the weekend to study at the Histadrut studio. Among these Bezalel students were Avigdor Stematsky, Ziona Tagger, Moshe Castel and, Yehezkel Streichman.[6] Frenkel did not request any payment or tuition from his students. According to Amnon Barzel, in september 1927 there were 6 female students out of 17 students in the studio.[13]

The studio participated in several art exhibitions including the "modern artists exhibition" at the Ohel theatre in 1926, in which Frenkel presented his abstract work, the first abstract paintings in the region.[14][7] According to Gideon Ofrat, the opening of the modern art studio in Tel Aviv rather than in Jerusalem, led to Tel Aviv eclipsing Jerusalem in its importance in the Israeli art scene.[7] The art studio closed in 1929 due to economic challenges.[7]

The artists of Tel Aviv as well as other Israeli artists in this period would be under the influence of French art, in particular influenced by the School of Paris of which Frenkel was a part.[15][16] Frenkel's students would later venture themselves to Paris and upon their return would amplify the influence of modern French art and the School of Paris.[16] Some of these Israeli artists would portray scenes in Israel as though they were painted in Paris or with a Parisian light which is weaker than the mediterrenean light; some painters switched to a European colour pallete.[17][18] During this period, motifs common in the painters' art where the boulvards and streets of Tel Aviv as well as Tel Aviv's bohemian cafe culture.[16]

Meir Dizengoff Prize

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Further information: Dizengoff Prize

Since the 1934, the municipality of Tel Aviv, grants an anual award to artists. The award is named after the first mayor of Tel Aviv, Meir Dizengoff. Dizengoff had provided a floor in his home to host the Tel Aviv museum of art during its first years in the 1930s.[19][20] The prize was for a time the most prominent art prize in Israel and was meant to help establish Tel Aviv as a center of Israeli art and culture.[20]

Grafitti art work by Dede

Street art in the late 20th and early 21st centuries

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Florentin, a once-industrial neighborhood in Tel Aviv, transformed in the 1990s into a hub for a bohemian community drawn to its mix of garages and decaying buildings, which offered ideal canvases for street art.[21] The district’s walls were soon covered with murals and graffiti bearing political messagesAlongside vibrant imagery, much of the street art consists of text quotations from Hebrew poetry, religious verses, and layered dialogues between artists.[22] Artists such as Dede, Klone, Kis-Lev, and installation artist Sigalit Landau have established themselves or have works in the area.[23][24][25] In a Times of Israel article, the artist, Lord K2 said that following the artistic revival of the area, gentrification has begun and is causing the graffiti art scene to shift elsewhere in the city.[26]

Museums

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Helena Rubenstein pavilion of the Tel Aviv museum of art, exhibiting Ofaskim Hadashim artwork

Tel Aviv Musuem of Art

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Further information: Tel Aviv Museum of Art
Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2024

The Tel Aviv Museum of Art, was established in 1932 in the former home of Tel Aviv’s first mayor Meir Dizengoff on Rothschild Boulevard. It served as the venue for the Israeli Declaration of Independence signing on May 14, 1948.[19][27] The museum expanded over the years, beginning with the opening of the Helena Rubinstein Pavilion for Contemporary Art in 1959, near HaBima square. The museum relocated in 1971 to Shaul Hamelech Boulevard.[28] A new wing was added in 1999.[29] Lola Beer Ebner Sculpture Garden and the Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Art Education Center, was opened in 1988. In 2023, the musuem was the 75th most visited museum in the world.[30]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Cultural Pioneers aboard the Ruslan | The Israel Museum, Jerusalem". www.imj.org.il. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
  2. ^ a b "New exhibition reveals the secrets of the Israeli 'Mayflower'". The Jerusalem Post. 2019-12-09. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
  3. ^ "artnet Galleries: A House in Safed by Yitzhak Frenkel-Frenel from Jordan-Delhaise Gallery". 2013-12-03. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2023-10-30.
  4. ^ "הסופר יעקב פרמן". סימניה. Retrieved 2023-10-29.
  5. ^ "תערוכת אודסה - תל אביב | אנו - מוזיאון העם היהודי". Museum of the Jewish People (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2023-10-29.
  6. ^ a b c "New art exhibit salutes work of pioneer Isaac Alexander Frenkel". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved 2024-09-17.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Ofrat, Gideon (23 November 1979). "Enough with all the Frenkels!". Haaretz Weekly. pp. 28, 29, 30.
  8. ^ Ofrat, Gideon (23 November 1979). "Enough with all the Frenkels!". Haaretz Weekly. pp. 28, 29, 30.
  9. ^ Ashni, Yeshayahu (23 September 1971). "Miracle of Resurrection of the painter Isaac Frenkel". Davar.
  10. ^ Perry-Helman, Mayra; Perry-Lehmann, Meira (1998). Dipped in water, dipped in light, one hundred years of watercolors in Israel (in Hebrew). Israel, Jerusalem: Israel Museum. ISBN 978-965-278-221-2.
  11. ^ "Abstract Alexander Frenel Frenkel was the first abstract painter in Israel. He learned his art from Paris in the twenties. When he exhibited at the "salon des independants" in 1924 in Paris, Mondrian acquired two of his paintings for an English collectionor". www.frenkel-frenel.org. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  12. ^ "Frenel, Yitzhak or Isaac, Alexandre; real name Isaac Frenel-Fraenkel". 31 October 2011. doi:10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.B00068047.
  13. ^ Barzel, Amnon (1972). "Scorching Nudes in Safed". Haaretz. pp. 27–29, 48.
  14. ^ "1884 | Encyclopedia of the Founders and Builders of Israel". www.tidhar.tourolib.org. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  15. ^ Turner, Michael; Bohm-Duchen, Monica; Manor, Dalia; Blair, Sheila S.; Bloom, Jonathan M.; Koffler, Lia (2003). "Israel". Oxford Art Online. doi:10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T042514. ISBN 9781884446054.
  16. ^ a b c Hecht Museum (2013). After the School Of Paris (in English and Hebrew). Israel. ISBN 9789655350272.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  17. ^ Ofrat, Gideon. Eretz Israeli Painting in the 1930s: between Tel Aviv and Paris. pp. 186–187.
  18. ^ Manor, Dalia (2018-01-01). "Between Paris and Tel Aviv: Jewish art in 1930s Eretz Yisrael". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  19. ^ a b Goloperov, Vadim (30 October 2017). "Meir Dizengoff: The Odessan Who Built Tel Aviv". odessareview.com. The Odessa Review. Archived from the original on 28 January 2023. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  20. ^ a b "Dizengoff Prize" (PDF). Municipality of Tel Aviv-Yafo.
  21. ^ The Street Art of Tel Aviv’s Florentin Neighborhood Elijah Shifrin, Updated: 29 November 2016
  22. ^ How To Deconstruct The Graffiti In Tel Aviv’s Hippest Neighborhood Aviya Kushner, March 17, 2017, The Forward
  23. ^ Hannah Stouffer (December 23, 2013). "Alfred Gallery". Juxtapoz. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
  24. ^ Aharoni, Inbal (August 11, 2011). "The luck of the draw". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
  25. ^ Boulos, Nick (October 5, 2013). "Show and Tel Aviv: Israel's artistic coastal city". The Independent. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
  26. ^ K2, Lord. "The disappearing street art of Tel Aviv's gentrifying Florentin neighborhood". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2025-07-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  27. ^ "Declaring the State of Israel on May 14, 1948". newsweek.com. Newsweek Digital. 14 May 2015. Archived from the original on 6 April 2023. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  28. ^ Tel Aviv's new museum to be dedicated today, New York Times
  29. ^ "About \ Tel Aviv Museum of Art". Archived from the original on 2015-02-06. Retrieved 2015-02-09.
  30. ^ "The 100 most popular art museums in the world—blockbusters, bots and bounce-backs". The Art Newspaper - International art news and events. 2024-03-26. Retrieved 2025-07-12.
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