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Show I The Revival of JEWISH ART, II Students of the' iBlble have been r amazed at the wonderful1 artistic citations described in lt.s pages. From thie tlmo tarhAn Bezalel built the taberjiacle In the wilderness un-V- til the completion of Sdlomon's Temple was a period of art, which I flefiefves a place In history along I with the art of tho Greeks. j The Jewish art period was earlier ? than the Grecian. The Jews did not i spend much time In painting: arid i ipork of the kind Indulged In by j the Greeks. They wrought In all-jver all-jver and sold-and fine silks. Their 5 artists worked with the most pre-? pre-? clous stones and metals, drawing r thread of gold and weaving pure f eold Into curtains which endured until war ruined the . wonderful n. J fabrics. Si No vessels were more artistically I . wrought than the vessels of gold and iillver which were carried away to Babylon and there used In unholy learousals. " With the captivity, much of the 3rtlitlo taste of the sons of Bezalel Evanished. Witn the rise, of Chrlss-Jtlanlty Chrlss-Jtlanlty and the scattering: of the Jewi the Hebrew became a mere i toller for his dally bread. Driven ) from city to city he.becana a mer-; mer-; chant, dealing In valuables' he could quickly conceal in case he was per-jHiruUd, per-jHiruUd, I But a change has oeme in the life (f the Jew. In Jerusalem near Pwhtre Solomon's artists -wrought I? the wonderful work In wood, ivory, ir metal, fabrio and stones, a school Iias been established where the arts of Besalel agIn are being taught together with the learning of other artist of the civilized world. Professor BorlB Schatz, a Rau-V iiA Jew, founder and principal of the school, is now touring: America exhibiting some of the wonderful works Of the artists of his school. All that the ancient Jew did, his students are doing. Besides they work with paint and brush, with crayon and pencil. They work with clay and bronze and marble Ten Vears ago Schati was In the employ of the Bulgarian government. govern-ment. He was commissioned by the King of Bulgaria to come to America Ameri-ca to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Expo-sition as superintendent of the art ;hibit from that nation. To the jja j exhibits of the native Bulgarians flft 2 Schatz added his own handiwork. I Of the prizes won at the fair by m Bulgarians, 90 per cent were works S1 :0f art by Schatz. Bulgaria won the talory. That made Schatz think. 2' (He went to Jerusalem and there ;sj f opened the Bezalel School of Handl-.fi Handl-.fi i crafts. He Invited students from 3i ; all over the world to come back to ui ' the Promised Land and again learn M the art of their fathers and also the II - art of the Gentiles. 8 The results have been wonderful. I The native Jews of Jerusalem are jfli Quick to learn art. Although they jjjf Jhave been toilers for generations I C they now turn out pieces of art lAore wonderful than any of their Mnd for twenty centuries. STUDENTS PA ED WAGE WHILE STUDYING. ' Schatz soon learned "that many ;' apt students were unable to con- tlnue their courses because of their poverty. They were forced to re-7 re-7 turn to labor soon after entering ) ichool. Then he instituted the pay ? for students plan. Each beginner f was paid as much as he could earn. ; at common labor. When he be- came more proficient in art his wage 'b increased by a lioard chosen by ; the students themselves. Their ; work was sold to defray the ex- Vfcnses of the school, j H was while a boy in Russia that c f Bchatz received his first inspiration 1Si I to become an artist and rejuvenate liJj the lost art of his ancestors. A m "roaggid" from Jerusalem came to all v their Russian town to address the 138 ? Jews, Schatz went to the meeting 2 I Place with his father and heard de-$ de-$ crlptlons of the land of Israel, ve After the address ho went with his father to the Russian Inn to see Pictures of Jerusalem. i Speaking of what he saw, Schatz iii ' "I still remember the pain that $ l3ed my child-heart when I saw a $ Nttle carved box, upon which was flj ; 1 sort of potato shaped figure with c ,1 the inscription. 'Tomb of Our i ther Rachel. There was alsn iel I!16 Picture of a wall with four ; orooms standing behind it and des-'1 des-'1 inatea the 'Wailing WalL' I re-M re-M i larded this as a profanation of our ::.m ; Buary, and I swore witp.m my , hart that as soon as I should be lUS frown up and become a good artist, Sw ' '0uld betake myself t6 Jerusalem VjS ' draw the sacred places so bcau-m bcau-m Wully, that all the Jews would 3Bf htVc a delight therein. , IJ ' "Many years passed... I grew up '..an'1 learned how to paint and ifjl make sculptures, but I did not ,'cj5i urney to Jerusalem, nor paint the i(? . to,b of our Mother Rachel and rtinl ' )he Wailing Wall, nor give any de-i'cif de-i'cif "Kht to my fellow-Jews, Strangers, fjiwft! non-Jews, taught me art and gave their ideal; and for this T worked , x&jm. wrought all manner of beautiful J things. I looked upon art as a vjW templs and upon artists as Us Jm Profits. I dreamed that I should jEm Worne a high priest In the service sacred art, that I would teach (wfil Mankind the ideal of the groat and ilftfgf- beautiful, to love Ihc good and to rtfUM: "Eut agnln the years rolled by : S. ald brought disappointments. 1 ipflB"? novv tne sanctity of art Is loiSI aBKC(1 down. Tho goldun calf JyM. taudB upon a pedestal anJ Lho 1 ' priests of art bow low before It, I 1 felt cold and ill at case in my world of artist?. I lost my God, and with a soul rent in twain and a vacant heart 1 turned my back upon up-on the magnificence of Paris. DECIDES TO OPEN ' JERUSALEM SCHOOL. i ''When I decided to open n school for Jews In Jerusalem. To bring about lte fulfillment I traveled $ throuph many lands. I studied ev- tj ery thing bearing uporu tho subject, y$ and when I thought myself suf- t flclenlly endowed with ability, and W felt within me the strength to give up everything In order to devqto niysolf wholly to the sacred cause, I went to Theodor Herzl. I approached ap-proached the man who had the courage 'to tell the whole world openly what he felt, and who had the power to attempt lo realize his Ideas. I spoke to him of my ideals with glowing enthusiasm for a full hour. He wanted to be Informed about every detail. His handsome ; presence inspired me. Upon hlfl ' maJesUc brow there were deep 1 thoughts to read, and In his sorrowful sorrow-ful eyes the noble Jewish soul, the soul which gazes upon a fantastic world and yet beholds the bitter reality of today. And after I had finished speaklns and wondered with beating heart: What answer will he give me? " 'Good, we shall do that,' he said, quietly and resolutely, and after a brief, pause he asked: 'What name wliryou give to your school?' " 'Bezalel,' I answered, 'after the name of the first Jewish artist who once built us a temple In tho wlld-erness.' wlld-erness.' " Boris Schatz is frankly-a dream- J-'-l er. His first Impulse. was to estab- llsh a school, to .revive-Jewish, art, r Being an artist, he could think of ! nothing but art ai the. means -for uplifting his people! But the. many bitter experiences taught him by real life when he went in search of support of his plan entirely "changed his views. As he says In a recent article: "Thero is no lack of art. but there is a lack of bread and freedom. The unfettered mind of man has invented clever machines and the machines and factories have turned man Into an unthinking slave. The machine has estranged him from the beautiful world of nature. It demands from the laborer neither thought nor understanding, but his-flesh his-flesh and blood. It has even robbed him of his last consolation, the plcasuro of crcutlon. for In the factory fac-tory he never creates a complete article, and often docs not see how K Prof.- Boris Schatz Brings ffmJ Back Learning of Men Who. ' K Made Tabernacle and Mfltt Temple, TeachingMen From I IHiflK -11 Sixteen Nations at iBl Jerusalem Li'iai Bcztilcl students. 4M&L i it looks when finished. He has only S wWP chine with maddening speed, to & B4y i drive It onward, and to be always 'PJ on" guard that It does not tear his iwy' ' IsM fingers away. The factory poisons 'C.t 1 ' tnG workman with Its foul air, it N petrifies his soul by Its cold pre- clslbn, It shortens his days by Its WMMM& cruel haste- Tne nealtny "P0 of aC3PS?fiJwg? workman of a former age, who IPM thought over his work with love IOTil' ud with care, wh.o-ga.ve to man- tptBv kind objects of art', is now no more. lllMP'V Hence in modern manufacture there PfWi Is n0 Individual tasto, because the workman has been robbed of it. BWSWk The iron dev11 hammers awa' and ISthM whizzes with maddening speed, and feSS the workman who flits around It rpJ like one confused Is animated by iAMiWrS& only one thought when ho will wSiCgS? hear the factory whistle give the pPP signal that he may hasten away as quickly as possible from this Inferno In-ferno and Its ministering demons?" So, Instead of an art school, Professor Pro-fessor Sohatz set about founding a trade school where men and women, boys and girls, may bo properly equipped to earn a living. With a capital of only 51,500 and a great fund of Ideals and onthusiasm. Professor Pro-fessor Schatz opened Bezalel School In one small room on one of the bystreets by-streets of Jerusalem- ' Now the school has 500 students and last year the profits from- it were more than $7 5,000. SUITAN'S ARTIST TEACHES CARPET MAKING. Teachers were brought there from all over tho world. One of these teachers was the carpet weaver for Abdul Hamid. When Abdul was driven from his palaco the weaver was given employment by Schatz. He taught the students how to P &37tf "Schadchon" or "the matrimonial ?PtJl J&ti&fFWM ' aent-" Tne Schadchon dates back ' 'iWlBfevi 10 tn0 days ot Abranam and 55 sti11 r.riBVJ an important personage in Jcrusa- HffKflHff, y lem. Abraham sent a matrimonial agCnt t0 flnd & fr Sn I weave the wonderful silk carpets. It was an art known to himself alone. When he- was recalled to Constantinople Constan-tinople "after a year one of the students stu-dents who had learned tho art tooK his place. ! These wonderful rugs are dyed with vegetable dyes. Some of them are so complex that It takes an artist art-ist a year to weave them. Among the patrons of the school Is the Queen of Holland, who has purchased pur-chased one of these rugs Another patron is Nathan Strauss of New York, who has purchased costly rugs and curios. Among the curios are scroll holders for unwinding and rewinding parchment. Thcso scrolls are still in uso in Palestine. Many of the people of Jerusalem are so poor that they own few books. Among tho pupila who came to Schatz to learn was a boy who knew only how to read upside down. Professor Schatz thought something was the matter with his vision, but upon Investigation learned that In tho family was only one book. All read from It at the same time and all could not read from the right side, so this boy had learned to read upsldo down. Ono of tho wonderful pieces of bronze work by Schatz is the are studied carefully so as to be weft mated. The activities in operation at Bezalel Bez-alel are varied. Thero are classes in carpet weaving, tapestry, filigree work, copper work, wood turning, beaten metal work. Ivory carving, basket and osier work, lace cmbrold-. ery, besides advanced classes In drawing, painting and sculpture. In addition to the technical teachers, teach-ers, the staff Includes instructors in. Hebrew, singing, etc. There are advanced classes In general subjects sub-jects and the workmen have formed a band, choir, theatrical and literary liter-ary societies. Tho school has a small theater where plays are given. There is. a museum with some real treasures of artistic and also arche-ologlcal arche-ologlcal value, besides a natural history section, where everything that is natively Palestinian is to be found. |