A Land and It’s Dolls

My Granny and her sister were born in Germany. For obvious reasons they left that country when they were young. My Granny eventually settled in England, whilst her sister moved to what was at the time Palestine and eventually became the State of Israel. My Great-Aunt visited us in England many, many times, often bringing me a doll in some form of Israeli national dress as a gift. These would go on a shelf in my bedroom with all my other 'knick-knacks' and a collection was formed.
I got older, left home and eventually moved to Israel myself. The doll collection remains in England in the home that I grew up in, yet each time I visit I spend a little time looking at it, remembering my kindly Great-Aunt and her wonderful gifts.

With that in mind, at the beginning of the summer I was excited to read about the exhibition 'A Land and It's Dolls' being held at the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv. We visited the very same museum during the holidays to see the incredible 'Tales in Sand' exhibition but the doll collection was closed in the evenings when the sand one was open and funnily enough not one member of my family of boys wanted to come and see it with me another time!
Last week I decided that I had to see this exhibition before it closes at the end of this month and so I hopped on to the train to Tel Aviv for a morning all to myself.

'A Land and It’s Dolls – Israel and National Identity' looks at the Israeli national costume dolls which were sold in souvenir shops and shops owned by institutional bodies such as WIZO (Women's International Zionist Organization) and Maskit (a cultural venture launched in the 1950's to promote Israeli handicrafts). All the dolls displayed in the exhibition were produced in Israel, first by individual artists and craftspeople and later, as demand grew, by local workshops. The earliest dolls in the exhibition—a middle-eastern man and woman—were created by Rivka Stark-Avivi (1895-1979) in 1919. The most recent ones are from the 1980's.
The exhibition begins with the Pre-State period and representations of Israel's varied immigrant population. It then proceeds to the 1950's and 1960's, when souvenir dolls mostly depicted the idealized version of the new Israeli, often as a young pioneer in an embroidered blouse and khaki shorts. The 1960's and 1970's dolls glamorized the young Israeli soldier, whilst I also spotted several Ultra-Orthodox figures and Arabs, a result of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. The most recent dolls are from the 1980's: Local production of Israeli souvenir dolls came to an end in the 1990's, when there was little demand for them mostly due to the sharp reduction in tourism caused by the First Intifada.

As with every exhibition I visit, I had my favourites. I adored the modern-looking and often humorous wooden dolls made by Frank Meisler, the German-born artist who left Nazi Germany for England and moved to Israel in 1955. Meisler later switched his creative energies to the production of upscale Jewish-themed metal sculptures, which, to this day, are popular with well-heeled tourists. Something about his wooden-headed dolls really appealed to me, especially his depiction of several of Israel's greatest leaders: Israel's first Prime Minister David Ben Gurion, the military leader and politician Moshe Dayan, and the fourth Prime Minister of the State of Israel, Golda Meir (above).
Once home I quickly sent an e-mail off to my Dad, sending him photos of the many dolls I had seen and which I remembered having in my own collection. I am now awaiting the arrival of two wooden-headed dolls which I had never realised were designed by Meisler himself! Oh, how I wish Great-Auntie Rene had still been around to enjoy this delightful exhibition with me.