10594 Visual Representations of Zionist Ideology in Israeli Culture 1
Credits: 6 advanced credits in Art History or in Modern History of the Jewish People
Prerequisites: 36 credits, including one of the following: Art History: An Introduction, From ‘National Home’ to a ‘State in the Making’: The Jewish Community in Palestine between the World Wars, Myths in Israeli Culture. Students must also fulfill all English requirements and take bibliographic instruction in the Library.
The course is based on Lo and Behold: Zionist Icons and Visual Representations in Israeli Culture by Alec Mishory (Am Oved, 2000), a collection of articles, and visual texts (posters, currency bills, stamps, etc.)
The course deals with visual representations that express several familiar Zionist ideas in Israeli culture. It presents an overview of the history of Israeli-Jewish design, addressing the nature of the public committees established to guide artists in their work. The course demonstrates the relations between Israeli-Jewish artistic design and processes and the events characteristic of Jewish-Israeli society and culture.
The overall objective of the course is to provide students with basic methods for analyzing some of the familiar symbols and graphic representations of Jewish-Israeli culture and to gain understanding and mastery of the complex processes involved in translating ideas into visual form. The course includes museum tours and visits to graphic artists involved in the design of symbols, posters and other graphic forms.
1Students may write a seminar paper in this course although it is not required.