Wayback Wednesday: Arie Navon The Cartoonist Historian of Israel
Skip to comments
The discovery of an old coverless book leads David Geffen on a quest for the cartoonist who chronicled Israel’s formative years through his cartoons. The Jerusalem Post carries the profile.
The opening drawing in the book shows Mr. Yisrael wearing the military-folded cap of the Israeli soldiers and holding a dumbbell high up in the air, labeled “Kibbutz Galuyot.” Around him are other dumbbells, one labeled “Building” at one end and “Protection-Defense” at the other. There were two more, one labeled “Struggle for Survival” and the other labeled “The Economy.” This drawing was very relatable, and I assume it would be for others as well, considering the reality we live in.
Arieh Navon was born in the Ukraine in 1909 as Arieh Kligman. His family made Aliyah in 1919 and lived in Tel Aviv. Arieh studied art at the studio of Yitzhak Frankel in 1928 and 1929, and then he traveled to study in Paris from 1930 to 1932.
Upon his return to Tel Aviv, Navon found the city bubbling over with new immigrants. There were a number of Hebrew newspapers interested in his work, and in 1933, his cartoons began to appear in Davar, which continued until 1964.
Comments