" " " " " "

Between Idea and Form: A comprehensive book on her research at Shenkar on the history of graphic design in Israel

From the beginnings of Hebrew culture in the Land of Israel, through the establishment of the State, to the privatization and globalization of the end of the twentieth century, the history of graphic design in Israel has accompanied the development of the State and reflects the encounters and struggles of social, economic, cultural, and political forces. Examination of the various aspects of the world of design enables identification of significant scenes of a period which are imbued with forms and ideas, each possessing their own contexts and history, and together they converge into a visual and multilayered collective memory.

Curator, researcher, and editor Batia Donner embarked on a journey along the paths of the history of Israeli design and processed them into a comprehensive book, the first of its kind, which is presented here for the first time for free reading, and is the fruit of a comprehensive study she conducted under the aegis of Shenkar. Under the title Between Idea and Form she presents chapters in the history of Israeli graphic design as a distinctive product of the culture of their time, and identifies contemporary form and syntax that reveal the contribution of local designers, their sources of inspiration, and the range of connections between their work and dynamic processes in Israeli society and culture.

Between Idea and Form (Hebre):

Batia Donner is a curator, visual culture researcher, editor, and lecturer who taught in the Cultural Studies Program at Shenkar, and during this period she conducted her comprehensive research on graphic design in Israel, which is now published as the book Between Idea and Form.

Donner has curated exhibitions in Israel’s leading museums, including: “To Live with the Dream” (Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 1989); “Propaganda and Vision: Soviet and Israeli Art, 1930-1955” (Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1997); “Hebrew Graphics: Shamir Brothers Studio” (Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 1999); and “Maskit: A Local Fabric” (Israel Museum, Tel Aviv, 2003).

Over the years Donner has published numerous books in her field of specialization, including: To Live with the Dream (Dvir & Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 1989); Majesty and Splendor: Israeli Sovereignty Ceremonies, 1948-1958 (Israel Museum of Art, 2001); David de Mayo, Total Designer (Published privately, Tel Aviv, 2012); and Nathan Rapoport: A Jewish Artist (Yad Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, Jerusalem & Yad Yaari, Givat Haviva, 2015). Her published articles include: “A History of Practical Graphics”, in The Building of Hebrew Culture in the Land of Israel (Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities & Bialik Institute, 1999); “Seeing in Plural: Iconic Photographs in Israel”, in The New Hebrews: A Century of Art in Israel (Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, 2005); “The Practice of Embroidery: Maskit as a Case Study”, in Thoughts on Craft (Bezalel, Jerusalem & Resling, Tel Aviv, 2016); “After The Walking Man”, in Eitan Bartal & Ilan Goldstein, The Walking Man: A Case Study of Underground Activity in the Urban Space of Tel Aviv (Public School, Tel Aviv, 2016).

Interested in Shenkar?

More Info >

Fill in your details and we'll get back to you shortly