Betsal'el ha-Hadash. Gilyonot li-Veʻayot ha-ʻItsuv ha-Omanuti (The New Bezalel. Issues For the Problems of Artistic Sadness) [SCARCE FIRST AND ONLY ISSUE, INCLUDING ART PRINTS]
Jerusalem: Hotzat Bezalel Ha-Hadash, [1941]. First edition. Softcover. 1/250. Folio. 23, [1]pp. String-bound decorative brown paper wrappers, with text and Bezalel logo printed in grey on the front cover.
The first and only issue of an intended periodical publication, produced for friends of the seminal Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, in a limited edition of only 250 copies, not for sale. The work is edited by and contains contributions from the school's director at the time, the artist and teacher Mordecai Ardon (1896-1992). The school, which had originally been founded in 1906, closed its doors for a 6-year period starting in 1929, and later reopened in 1935 under the name "The New Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts". This extremely scarce work provides an overview the teaching and work being done at the new iteration of the school, and gives context to work being done by Jewish artists in the Land of Israel, during the late Mandatory Palestine period.
Notably included here are a number of beautiful art prints showing the work of students of the school, including a b/w woodcut (by Shalom Reiser), 3 b/w lithographs of animal images, and a botanically themed color pochoir, in addition to some b/w photographic reproductions of original artwork as well. The publication contains contributions in the form of short essays by numerous artists and members of the faculty from the school's departments of drawing, painting, metalwork, sculpture, "writing" (calligraphy and typefonts) and graphic design. The teachers discuss the work being done by the students and their general teaching goals. In addition to a number of texts by Mordecai Ardon himself, including discussions of the curriculum and a news bulletin, other content includes essays by designer Yehuda Wolpert (1900-1981), art historian Fritz Schiff (1891-1964, "Yemenite-Jewish ornamentation"), graphic designer Rudolph Deutsch (Rudi Dayan); sculptor Jacob Lev (1886-1963), calligrapher and typographer Yerachmiel Schecter (1900-1986) and acclaimed architect Eric Mendelsohn (Art in the Land of Israel).
Text throughout in Hebrew.
Wrappers with some repairs to the corners, but otherwise extremely clean. Minor damp stains to the corners of the title page, but interior otherwise clean and vibrant, with binding still holding tight. Wrappers in very good, interior in very good+ to near fine condition overall. vg to near fine. Item #55206
Hebrew title: בצלאל החדש. גליונות לבעיות העצוב האמנותי
Author(s): העורך: מרדכי ארדון (מ. ארדון-ברונשטין)
Publication: הוצאת בצלאל החדש, ירושלים, תש״א
Alternate transliteration/ titles: Betsalʼel he-hadash, New Bezalel Jerusalem, Mordechai Ardon
Extremely scarce publication, with only 5 holdings worldwide on OCLC, only 2 outside of Israel.
Price: $3,500.00