Meir Gur-Arie (1891-1951). [PALESTINE NEAR EAST EXHIBITION AND FAIR - TEL AVIV]. 1925. 34¼x19 inches, 87x48¼ cm. Industrial Art Workho

Lot description

MEIR GUR-ARIE (1891-1951) [PALESTINE NEAR EAST EXHIBITION AND FAIR - TEL AVIV]. 1925. 34 1/4x19 inches, 87x48 1/4 cm. Industrial Art Workhouse, Jerusalem. Condition B+: small tears and abrasions at edges; creases in margins and image; ink stain at top left edge; small pin holes in corners; paper stamp in lower left image; Hebrew text banner affixed at bottom. Paper. The Near East Fair was first held in 1923, and was formally named the Levant Fair in 1932. An international trade and commerce show, it highlighted Jewish Palestine's economic success and was intended to help cement Tel Aviv as an international city at the crossroads between the East and the West. Here, a settler is shown with her basket overflowing with the harvest fruits, against a map of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Suez and pictographic representations of Tel Aviv and Alexandria. Born Meir Gorodetsky in Belarus, Meir Gur-Arie studied at the Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem. Upon graduating, he continued at the school as a professor. He was an influential artist in Palestine, being a founding member of both the Hebrew Artists Association, and along with Ze'ev Raban, the "Studio for Industrial Art." He was a painter, watercolorist and silhouette maker. He designed fewer than a dozen posters. This is the Hebrew version. Rare.