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Establishment of Bezalel

1/3/1906

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On 1.3.1906, the doors of the Bezalel Art School in Jerusalem, were opened. The establishment of the academy, one of the most important milestones in the history of the pre-State Jewish Yishuv, was the brainchild of Boris Schatz, who envisioned a school where Jewish artists and craftsmen would study under the same roof. Thus, Schatz aspired  to fulfill the Zionist vision in the artistic field – to create a new, modern brand of Jewish art, one that would preserve traditional art as well as promote creative artistic innovation. This interdisciplinary approach, combining "high" culture with traditional art, was unusual at that time and accentuated the innovative nature of the new institution, and perhaps even more so, that of its founder.
 
In order to establish the school financially, Schatz wished to induce diaspora Jews to buy the students' works. An encounter with Murray Rosenberg, an avid dilettante photographer who travelled to Palestine in 1911, provided him with the means to promote his cause. Rosenberg, Schatz proposed, would shoot a short film about the new school so that Jews abroad would learn about it. Rosenberg rose to the challenge, and the result is the first advertisement filmed in Palestine. The short film about the school was incorporated in a longer film Rosenberg made about Palestine, presented here.
 
The papers of Murry Rosenberg are kept at the CZA (A150), as is the archive of  the Bezalel School.
 
The portion of the film that shows Bezalel begins at 04:19.