Ha-Tomer () is an art cooperative that operated in 1920 in

Tel Aviv-Yafo Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

. Its members were among the first to support and implement modernist art in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. The Tomer also served as the first art gallery in the region.

History

The group was founded as an art cooperative by the collector Jacob Pereman and included the artists

Yitzhak Frenkel Yitzhak Frenkel (; 1899–1981), also known as Isaac Frenkel or Alexandre Frenel, was an Israeli painter, sculptor and teacher. He was one of the leading Jewish artists of the School of Paris, l’École de Paris and its chief practitioner in Is ...

, the sculptor Liv Halperin, Miriam Had Gadya, Judith and Yosef Konstantinovsky (later Constant). HaTomer was supported by the "Job Ministry of

Hapoel Hatzair Hapoel Hatzair (, "The Young Worker") was a Zionist group active in Palestine from 1905 until 1930. It was founded by A.D. Gordon, Yosef Aharonovich, Yosef Sprinzak and followed a non-Marxist, Zionist, socialist agenda. Hapoel Hatzair was a ...

" in

Jaffa Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...

. The members of the cooperative had to earn a living by decorating buildings and selling works of art, but due to the small number of orders, they mainly engaged in decorating ceramic vessels, books, posters, pamphlets, fountains and more as well as establishing an art school in

. The artists cooperative rented an apartment in the Neve Shalom neighborhood, which turned into a club for artists and art lovers. The apartment's rent was covered by the decorative work carried by the artists. Two of the artists of the cooperative: Frenkel and Constant taught art in the

Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium The Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium (, also known as ''Gymnasia Herzliya''), originally known as HaGymnasia HaIvrit (lit. Hebrew High School) is a historic high school in Tel Aviv, Israel, whose faculty and alumni includes many people influential in t ...

. The art corporative organized the "First Art Exhibition" In Eretz Israel, organised by Perman and Constant, presenting some of the artists' works at the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium. The exhibition was presented for only a week before being dismantled due to the events surrounding the 1920 pogrom that had just broken out. Even the mayor of Tel Aviv,

Meir Dizengoff Meir Dizengoff (; born Meer Yankelevich Dizengof, ); 25 February 1861 – 23 September 1936) was a Zionism, Zionist leader and politician and the founder and first Mayor of Tel Aviv, mayor of Tel Aviv (1911–1922 as head of town planning, 1922� ...

could not convince anyone to buy an artwork. Due to financial hardship and the lack of appreciation of their modernist art, in 1920, Joseph and Judith Constant left for

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and Isaac Frenkel who joined them, later left for

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

before returning in 1925. Although Jacob Pereman continued to exhibit the works of the cooperative. The cooperative stopped functioning soon after its prominent members had left, thus ended the first modern art group in the Yishuv.

References

{{reflist Cultural organizations 1920 establishments in Mandatory Palestine Culture in Tel Aviv Arts in Israel Words and phrases in Modern Hebrew

History

See also

References