Synopsis
Until now only partial studies and monographs have traced the history of Israeli architecture and no one has ever attempted a unitary interpretation of such a complex cultural and political phenomenon. The troubled history of this land has moved parallel with the evolution of autonomous creative experiences and, at the same time, strongly linked to the roots of the intellectuals and architects who immigrated there: a laboratory sensitive to the international debate and at the same time a window opened onto Middle Eastern culture and its stimuli. The unique feature of the Israeli phenomenon lies in the creative contribution offered by a wide variety of artists from faraway contexts, and the image of the cities reflects this conditions with design input ranging from Mendelsohn to Harrison, from Philip Johnson to Louis Kahn, Fredrick Kiesler, Oskar Niemeyer and Mario Botta.
This volume, written by one of the greatest experts on modern Israeli art and architecture, chronologically follows the most significant phases, positioning them critically and offering a detailed interpretation of some of the most significant works: from the colonial architecture of the early 1990's to the foundation of Tel Aviv in the twenties (and the experiment with white cities under the Bauhaus influence), to the postwar brutalist and international phase, that would decline in the late sixties, in a period of more autonomous elaboration in which city architecture, restoration and territorial design acquired greater importance under the influence of a new generation of Israeli designers (from Moshe Safdie to Zvi Ecker). The book is introduced by two essays by Teddy Kollek and Alexander Tzonis.
500 illustrations
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About the Author
Michael Levin is a lecturer in the history of art and architecture at Holon Institute of Technology, at the Faculty of Architecture, Technion Israel, Haifa and Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem. He is author of The Modern Museum (1983), Sculpture in Jerusalem (1983), and White City (1984).
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