Lot 89
Collection of Photographs from the Estate of the Photographer Falu Zivlin - First Half of 20th Century
About 100 photographs and some 400 negatives from the estate of the photographer Falu Zivlin.
Falu Zivlin (1902-1982) was born in Russia and immigrated to Palestine in 1914. He settled with his family in Tel-Aviv and studied photography. Between 1929 and 1953 he worked in Jerusalem, in a shop on King George Street. Zivlin used natural light for his portrait photographs, unlike other photographers in Palestine at the time. Over the years he photographed for various institutes and organizations such as JNF and the "Haganah". During the Independence War his family members burnt many of his photographs for use as burning material to heat water; when he closed his studio, in 1953, thousands of his photographs and negatives were discarded.
This collection includes photographs and negatives from his archive: portraits, many of them are of his family members and some are studio photographs in local costumes; photographs documenting different events, among them a photograph of a person murdered in the Hebron riots, photograph of Rabbi Herzog and Rabbi Uziel protesting against the "White Book", a photograph of the terrorist attack on Ben Yehudah Street (1948); landscapes in the country, and more.
Some photographs are titled on verso. The photographer's ink stamp appears on several photographs; most are not signed; some portray Zivlin himself and they were probably given to him as a present.
Total of about 100 photographs and about 400 negatives. Size and condition vary. Most photographs are in good condition.
Literature: Photographers of Palestine, by Guy Raz. Tel Aviv: Mappa, 2003, p. 50.
Provenance: Estate of Falu Zivlin.
