Auction 87 - Jewish and Israeli Art, History and Culture
Including: sketches by Ze'ev Raban and Bezalel items, hildren's books, avant-garde books, rare ladino periodicals, and more
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Pencil and ink on paper.
Approx. 20 leaves with sketches for a links bracelet depicting scenes from Isaiah's End of Days prophecy. The sketches show different versions of the scenes. Four of the sketches are for a link showing the text of the prophecy (made for both the Hebrew and English versions of the bracelet).
Among the sketches are two different versions of the scene "and a little child shall lead them". The image which was not chosen for the bracelet was presumably sold by Raban to the Ariel cigarette company (active in the early 1920s; see: Ze'ev Raban: a Hebrew Symbolist, p. 104), to be used as a logo – or vice versa.
Enclosed is a leaf with three sketches (pencil, ink and watercolor on paper) for the logo of the Ariel cigarette company, and for the packaging of the company's Samson cigarettes.
Size and condition vary.
Literature: Batsheva Goldman Ida, Ze'ev Raban: a Hebrew Symbolist. Tel Aviv and Jerusalem: Tel Aviv Museum of Art and Yad Yitzhak Ben Zvi, 2001.
Provenance: Estate of Shlomo Kedmi.
Pencil, ink and watercolor on paper.
Included: • Sketch for a Hanukkah lamp with a depiction of Aaron the High Priest lighting the menorah on the backplate. Captioned in the corner: "for Sharar". The sketch is similar to the version which was ultimately produced. See: Ze'ev Raban, a Hebrew Symbolist, p. 78 item 82. • Two sketches for an upright Hanukkah lamp decorated with gazelles, for Zel-Zion; one of them with a brief letter from Ze'ev Raban to Zohar Zel-Zion, wner of the company. • Two additional sketches for an upright Hanukkah lamp, very similar to the sketches produced for Zel-Zion, though decorated with lions instead of gazelles. • Color sketch for a Hanukkah lamp decorated with vines, lions and Tablets of the Law, for Zel-Zion, also inscribed with several sentences addressed to Zohar Zel-Zion. See: Lighting the Way to Freedom, item 133; the lamp is not attributed there to Raban. • Sketch for an upright filigree Hanukkah lamp, in the classic Bezalel style. Stamped "Industrial Art Studio M. Gur Aryeh & Z. Raban, Bezalel Jerusalem ".
Size and condition vary.
Enclosed: Sketch for a triptych depicting Matityahu and his five sons. A finished version of the sketch was sold by Tiroche Auction House, auction 168 item 6, and is documented in the Information Center for Israeli Art of the Israel Museum. • Sketch for the inscription on the Memorial Wall for Zvi Kalir at the Beit Zvi school for the Performing Arts established in his memory.
Literature: Aaron Ha'Tell and Yaniv Ben Or, Lighting the Way to Freedom, Treasured Hanukkah Menorahs of Early Israel. Jerusalem and New York: Devora Publishing, 2006.
Provenance: Estate of Shlomo Kedmi.
Ink and pencil on paper.
Some 25 leaves with sketches for various ceremonial objects, including furniture for the Western Wall plaza, mezuzot, a Torah pointer, Torah finials and a Torah crown, a Torah ark, spice towers, a Seder plate, Hanukkah lamps, ketubot, gate for Midrash HaTalmud Tiferet Avraham (which stands until this day on HaOr St. in Jerusalem), and more
Size and condition vary.
Provenance: Estate of Shlomo Kedmi.
Ink, pencil and colored pencils on paper.
Sketches for Torah shields and pointers. Included: • Sketch (and carbon copy) for a shield decorated with a lion and vines. Dedicatory inscription on shield (Hebrew): "Dedicated in memory of the communal workers and philanthropists of the Chevra Kaddisha in Auckland". Signed and dated by Raban. • Sketch for a shield decorated with pomegranates, a menorah, Tablets of the Law, a lion and stag. Dedicatory inscription (English): "In Memory of Rabbi Samuel Aaron Goldstein, Minister, Auckland Hebrew Com[munity], President, Auckland Zionist Assoc[iation]". With two sketches for a Torah pointer. Stamped with the inked stamp of Raban's studio. • Sketch (and carbon copy) for a Torah pointer, dedicated to "The Jewish soldiers who gave up their lives in the war against the Nazi enemy, and in the Independence war of Israel 1947-1949"; "designed for the Chevra Kaddisha of Auckland" (Hebrew). Signed and dated by Raban. Stamped with the inked stamp of Raban's studio.
Size and condition vary.
Provenance: Estate of Shlomo Kedmi.
Pencil on paper; watercolor and gold paint on paper.
A sketch and a finished work (presumably a sketch for print). The dove is designed as a mosaic, a technique Raban employed at two different periods in his life – in the 1920s, and primarily in his illustrations for the Song of Songs (see Ze'ev Raban, a Hebrew Symbolist, p. 120), and in the 1950s-1960s, for instance in his work Way of Life (1967; see Raban Remembered, p. 87).
14X11 cm. Good condition. Creases, closed tears and open tears to pencil sketch.
Literature:
1. Batsheva Goldman Ida, Ze'ev Raban: a Hebrew Symbolist. Tel Aviv and Jerusalem: Tel Aviv Museum of Art and Yad Yitzhak Ben Zvi, 2001.
2. Raban Remembered: Jerusalem's Forgotten Master. New York: Yeshiva University, 1982.
Provenance: Estate of Shlomo Kedmi.
Brass, repoussé; pencil on paper.
Round decorative pin, depicting the wild rooster from the legend of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. The wild rooster (the hoopoe) is a recurrent motif in Raban's works. See for instance "Ze'ev Raban: a Hebrew Symbolist", pp. 126, 169; "Schatz's Bezalel", item 911. Enclosed with the pin are two sketches for it.
Pin: diameter approx. 4.5 cm. Good condition. Minor bends. Two sketches on one leaf, diameter approx. 4.5 cm each. Good condition. Stains and tears to leaf, not affecting sketches.
Literature:
1. Batsheva Goldman Ida, Ze'ev Raban: a Hebrew Symbolist. Tel Aviv and Jerusalem: Tel Aviv Museum of Art and Yad Yitzhak Ben Zvi, 2001.
2. Schatz's Bezalel 1906-1929, Catalog Listing of Objects in the Exhibition. Jerusalem: the Israel Museum, 1983.
Provenance: Estate of Shlomo Kedmi.
• Four leaves with sketches of medallions depicting holy places: the Dome of the Rock,
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the grave of Rabbi Meir Baal HaNes. • Six small medallions: three medallions depicting the Dome of the Rock (made after the aforementioned sketches), Rachel's Tomb and the Western Wall, and three identical medallions – the text of the Priestly Blessing within tablets resembling the Tablets of the Law, flanked by lions, with the priestly blessing hands on bottom.
Size varies. Overall good condition.
Provenance: Estate of Shlomo Kedmi.
Ze'ev Raban (1890-1970), sketches of coins, based on coins from the Hasmonean kingdom, the Herodian kingdom, the Bar Kokhba revolt; and pendants and pins made based on these sketches. [Jerusalem, 1950s].
Lot includes: • Ten large sketches based on eight early coins (some taken from both sides of the same coin). Pencil and ink on paper. All bear the stamp of Raban's studio.
40X50 cm on average. Good-fair condition. Tears, stains and blemishes. Some repairs with acidic adhesive tape.
• Eight medallions, mostly based on the present sketches; some double-sided. One pendant depicts the Tower of David on verso, and one depicts the Roaring Lion Monument in Tel-Hai.
Diameter: approx. 26 to 30 mm. Good condition. Minor stains and corrosion.
• 13 pins based on these sketches and on other early coins.
Diameter: 10 mm (apart from two pins, which are 23 mm in diameter). Good condition.
Provenance: Estate of Shlomo Kedmi.
Lot 337 Ze'ev Raban (1890-1970) – Wine Labels / The Twelve Spies – Collection of Sketches and Prints
Pencil and ink on paper; lithographs.
Ten leaves with sketches (some with several sketches) for labels of Carmel Oriental wine, for a medallion depicting the twelve spies, and more; two sheets with print proofs, some upside down; six final versions of printed wine labels. A label for the Chateau King Solomon wine of Carmel Oriental is photographed in "Ze'ev Raban: a Hebrew Symbolist", p. 109 (the Hebrew version of the label is included in the present collection).
Size and condition vary. Overall good condition.
Literature: Batsheva Goldman Ida, Ze'ev Raban: a Hebrew Symbolist. Tel Aviv and Jerusalem: Tel Aviv Museum of Art and Yad Yitzhak Ben Zvi, 2001.
Provenance: Estate of Shlomo Kedmi.
Pen and wash on paper. Stamped "Ze'ev Raban, Jerusalem" (Hebrew).
The "Gold Fund" was established during the World Zionist Conference in London (1920), as part of Keren Hayesod, with the purpose of collecting donations of gold jewelry and then selling the gold to fund construction works in Palestine.
On verso: an additional sketch for an illustration to Bialik's legend "King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba."
Both sketches appear in the catalogue "Ze'ev Raban: a Hebrew Symbolist", pp. 94 and 124.
24X16.5 cm. Good condition. Minor stains and blemishes.
Literature: Batsheva Goldman Ida, Ze'ev Raban: a Hebrew Symbolist. Tel Aviv and Jerusalem: Tel Aviv Museum of Art and Yad Yitzhak Ben Zvi, 2001.
Provenance: Estate of Shlomo Kedmi.
Ink and watercolor on paper. Stamped "Ze'ev Raban, Jerusalem" (Hebrew).
The sketch depicts Joseph Trumpeldor dying under a tree, Mount Hermon and a group of marching halutzim (pioneers). A Hebrew caption at the bottom of the drawing reads: "the Dying Hero"; an additional patriotic caption below praises the heroism of those who fell for the cause of Zionism, and urges one to act, so as not to let their death be in vain.
On verso: an additional, unfinished, sketch, depicting a girl in a pointed hat reading a scroll against the backdrop of Jerusalem's skyline.
24X16.5 cm. Good condition.
Provenance: Estate of Shlomo Kedmi.
Ze'ev Raban (1890-1970), sketch for the Jerusalem Printing Works building, made for the publisher Shlomo Salzman. [Jerusalem, 1919].
Ink on paper. With the stamp of Raban's studio.
The sketch depicts a three-domed building, with many decorative elements and designs in Raban's typical style. The central dome is topped with a statue of a bearded man (distinctly reminiscent of Boris Schatz's Matityahu), holding up a scroll with the inscription "Am HaSefer" [People of the Book].
Shlomo Salzman, a prominent Hebrew publisher in Russia and Germany, was the owner of the Kadima publishing house in Odessa, the Salzman publishing house which relocated with him from St. Petersburg to Berlin, and the HaSefer publishing house in Berlin. After he left Russia in 1919 and before he settled in Berlin, he paid a visit to Jerusalem where he wished to establish a printing press and publishing house.
Dr. Gil Weissblei, in his book "The Revival of the Hebrew Book Art in Weimar Germany" (2019, pp. 87-99; Hebrew), writes about Salzman's efforts to establish a colossal publishing district named Kiryat Sefer in Jerusalem – "A special district […] on the outskirts of Jerusalem, which would comprise printing presses; workshops […] factories for printing blocks; bookbinderies; warehouses for paper, paint, and binding equipment; and more". Together with a few Zionist activists who shared his vision, he managed the "Am HaSefer" company, to raise the funds needed for establishing this publishing enterprise. Amongst its other activities, the company acquired Ze'ev Raban's "Song of Songs" and his illustrations to the book "Aleph Bet". Concurrently, the company commissioned Raban to design the proposed printing house: "A receipt for the sum of eight lirot to the artist Ze'ev Raban indicates that Salzman received from him, on September 1, 1919, a drawing of the proposed Jerusalem Printing Works building. Raban […] was a rising star in the field of Hebrew art in those days – though without formal architectural education […]. According to Weissblei, the architectural and engineering plans were prepared by the engineer Ben Zion Gini, based on Raban's proposal. Due to the 1920 Palestine riots, Salzman was compelled to abandon his dream, and he left Jerusalem for Berlin, where he established the HaSefer publishing house.
Weissblei notes that he did not see the plan itself, and that Raban's archive deposited in the Jerusalem municipality archive comprises items beginning from 1922. The present item is therefore the missing plan from Raban's estate which was passed on to his partner, Shlomo Kedmi.
Approx. 54X33 cm. Fair-good condition. Marginal closed and open tears. Stains. Fold lines. Tears to center of leaf, along vertical fold (repaired with tape on verso).
Literature: Gil Weissblei, "The Revival of the Hebrew Book Art in Weimar Germany". Jerusalem: Carmel, 2019.
Provenance: Estate of Shlomo Kedmi.