ABSTRACT
This little manifesto, intended to promote a membership scheme to help rescue Bezalel during its last years, makes it clear that by now the major argument to support the institute was its role in generating Jewish national art. Apparently the concept of Jewish art here is that of traditional art: decorative ritual objects for the home or the synagogue. It indicates a certain shift away from the purposes proclaimed in the early years. In the founding programme of Bezalel the aspect of artistic style was still marginal, but it soon appeared in the writings about Bezalel by Schatz and others. In his first report on the school Schatz proudly described his senior students who ‘compose paintings in a particular style and endeavour to create a Hebrew eretz yisraeli style’. He went on to explain how the collection of Palestinian fauna and flora and antiques in Bezalel Museum was ‘a useful material in our search for the eretz yisraeli style’. He also emphasised that a distinctive style was vital for the commercial value of works, declaring:
We have already begun to create a specific style in Hebrew lettering. We have succeeded in making beautiful ornaments with them and in giving the ancient letters a new modern form. We transfer these new designs to the carpet-weaving workshop at once.2
