Camels? Israeli art is about far more

At first glance, Gil Shani’s 2006 painting Untitled appears completely abstract, a black expanse with white shapes scattered across it in a seemingly random fashion. But, after a while, your eyes begin to identify the shapes — camels passing through a rocky, desert landscape.

“Many people think Israeli art is about camels and olive trees,” says Yigal Zalmona, a leading authority on the Israeli art scene after 40 years as a curator, critic and historian. “I would like them to understand that it is different. This painting is a critique of the idea.”

Mr Zalmona’s new book does plenty to disabuse the myth that Israeli art has not progressed from patriotic
posters depicting early Zionist settlers. Titled A Century of Israeli Art, the mammoth volume features images and analysis of the depiction of the Zionist journey in painting and sculpture — and how over recent decades Israeli art has become sought after by international collectors and exhibited in prestigious galleries the world over.

An array of artistic genres is discussed, from graphic art to futurism, sculpture and installation work. But there is less in the way of traditional portraiture. Impressionism, for example, barely gets a look in. “It’s all very modern,” Mr Zalmona adds, explaining that this is in large part because of the natural symbiosis between the ideas of Zionism and modernism.