The Denver Jewish news. [volume] (Denver, Colo.) 1915-1925, 1921-05-18
Art Exhibition in Jeru-
salem Opened
THE ART EXHIBITION IN
JERUSALEM.

By DIR. HUGO BERGMAN.
Copyright 1921 by Jewish Correspondence
Burenu)
April 2O.-Last Thursday the first
Art Exhibition in Jerusalem was for.
nally opened by Sir Herbert Samuel.
The PrO-Jerusalem SOcIety. which in
auguratcd the exhibition. has restored
the wonderful David Tower, which
long stood dirty and neglected. and
Jerusalem has acquired for good. an
other beautiful building. The Tower
is approached by II medieval bridge,
and is built into the wan or the city.
At the entrance one is greeted by a
piece of ancient sculpture, excavated
at Ascalon.
The exhibition might as well have
been called an exhibition of Jewish
art for it is composed almost entirely
of works of Jewish artists. 1t is as
well, however, that in this case the
Jews have not separated themselves.
so that if Arab art is revived in Pales-
tine, this will be ground for mutual
understanding. At the present mo-
ment there are only two non-Jewish
exhibitors. and they are not Arabs.
The Armenian, A. Muradian. who
studied in ConstaptinopIe is. mas
terly painter of dark interiors we
may, indeed. justly consider the chief
Gus DARKNESS. bordering on the fu-
nereal. Then there is Tran Albina
an Italian, the wife of an Arab of
high position. She has become n
lists. She still paints in the classic
style, but her figures are full of ex-
pression-a very delicate miniature
shows her mastery in handling the
colouring of the human body. In con-
trast to this classic artist of feeling
We have the Jewish painter. Snow
man, who immigratcd 10 Palestine
from England; he is fat and express
xionless, He understands technique
talso the technique or appealing TO
the public). but there Is no depth Of
treatment of any of his subjects. He
shows his three types OF the Jerusa-
lem Jew-,an admirable conception.
but treated by him in the style of
Ghetto-Grure picture. And there is
no place here for genre a Ghetto pic
lures. Here on all sides there is n
passionate seeking to appeal to what
is deepest in the soul, and this Is
achieved by the company of artists
grouped around the .Bezalel" \
great many objections have been
raised against Prof. Schatz, but here
one sees that he has really created
something: it is beginning. There
hangs ben David" n Bulgarian Jew.
in costly attire. the applique" work
different coloured pieces of cloth
stitched side by side) and buffoonery
producing very good effect. The
same technique is employed by Sewy.
the whole of whose work has gen
cral tone of melancholy aDout it. He
has secured very toneful effects with
this applique" as. for instance. in
the reception of the Sabbath by Ye-
menite women and the dance of the
Bokharian Jewish women.
In Melnikof we have an energetic
sculptor, who was commissioned to
carve bust of General Allenby for
Beersheba. He is exhibiting two
leads. the chief being one of Hillel,
which far from according with the
popular conception of him, is given a
grave and determine countenance.
The Bezalel woman student RiOka
Stark Avivi, has developed a tech
nique all her own; with dolls artis-
ticalIy made out of rags, she man
ages to produce singularly expressive
work on a small scale, whether it is
n Jewish dwelling house in Lithuania.
or an exceedingly comic group of an
Arab Sheikh with his most beauti-
full" wife. Another female artist OF
the Bezalcl is Hanna Ge<!rOn, who
exhibits a painting with the surfaces
well distributed. and II boat crossing
the ferry with the ferrynan. Schrr
the teacher of miniature painting at
the BeZalel. has a good portrait of
himself and an older picture of the
well-knOwn author Eliaschoff. The
most modern tendencies in painting
are shown in Feldmann's work. at
least one detects something of the
expressionist in his pictures. Other
wise Palestine is not yet either cS-
r,,t OF