36 posters advertising Purim celebrations in Tel-Aviv. Tel-Aviv, 1921-1935.
Collection of posters devoted to Purim celebrations in Tel-Aviv during the 1920s and 1930s, documenting different events that took place in the course of the Purim festival and the preceding days.
Posters include: numerous advertising posters for the Purim balls organized by Baruch Agadati and the "Adloyada"; a poster issued by the Palestine Rail Company advertising discounted rides to Tel Aviv for the Purim celebrations; advertising poster for a "Special Ball to Elect the Yemenite Queen Esther" issued by "Tze'irei HaMizrachi"; advertising poster for the masquerade organized by "HaBama Haivrit" and "HaMaccabi"; poster of the "Palestine Theater Company"; informative posters of the "Committee for Organizing the Celebrations and the Adloyada Carnival" of the Tel Aviv Municipality or the "JNF Organizing Committee", and more.
"Beginning in the city's first years, Purim celebrations fulfilled a significant role in Tel-Aviv's cultural life. Towards the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Adloyada celebrations became, to a certain extent, a national holiday, with the masses rushing to Tel-Aviv from other major cities, from the colonies, and even from abroad, to take part in the masquerade balls and watch the carnival procession.
In those years, Tel-Aviv's cultural life was characterized by Western influence on the one hand, and on the other hand, by an aspiration to create an original, local culture and lifestyle. […] The Purim celebrations became part of this trend of adopting European forms yet filling them with local Hebrew content. Agadati's masquerades adopted several prominent features of European carnivals. […] However, the masquerades also bore a distinctly local flavor. The halls were hung with sumptuous decorations based on the stories of the Book of Esther. Many costumes were inspired by those stories and by the way of life in the East and in Palestine, while also reflecting political, economic, social and cultural events in the life of the Yishuv. Tel-Aviv, being the venue for the celebrations, gained a central status in this context […] the costume competition, which was the main event at the masquerades, rewarded the most original costumes with valuable prizes, all of which were produced locally - gifts from local factories […] by choosing the Hebrew Queen Esther Agadati sought to convey a national-Zionist message and to fuse Jewish history with the present life in Palestine. At children's celebrations and processions held by the Jewish National Fund and the Tel Aviv Municipality, children appeared in costumes bearing explicitly Zionist messages, intended to reflect and extol the achievements of the Zionist enterprise".
(Batia Carmiel, from the introduction to the catalogue "Tel Aviv in Costume and Crown, Purim Celebrations in Tel Aviv, 1912-1935". Tel-Aviv: Eretz Israel Museum, 1999. Hebrew).
Size and condition vary. Some posters in a landscape format. A number of posters (from early years) are in poor condition, with many tears and creases. Most of the posters show minor creases, small tears along edges and fold lines.

Official poster published for the second Independence Day of the State of Israel. Governmental Printer, 1950. Design: Miriam Troop (signed in the plate).
Poster for the second Independence Day of the State of Israel, dedicated to the fallen soldiers of the War of Independence – emblem of the State of Israel, through which two dark red flowers are reflected.
This poster is considered the rarest among the Independence Day posters. The couple of red flowers in its center are the first "Dam Hamakabim" flowers – the Israeli flowers of bereavement, whose Hebrew name "Dam Hamakabim" (literally "Blood of the Maccabees") derives from a legend about a flower that grows wherever a drop of blood of the Maccabees was spilt (shortly thereafter, the name of these flowers was changed to "Dmumit" and the name "Dam Hamakabim" was given to a different flower (Red Everlasting).
The poster was designed by Miriam Troop (1917-2016), a designer and book illustrator, born in the USA. After World War II, she travelled through various countries, creating drawings of children (published in her book "Children Around the World"; New York, 1946). Presumably, Troop lived in Israel for several years during the early years of the State and during this time designed this poster.
Approx. 67.5X97.5 cm. Good condition. Fold lines and creases. Several restored tears along edges. Tape on bottom (concealing some of the printer's details). Tape and several abrasions to verso.
Provenance: The Rimon Family Collection.

The Independence Day Poster of the State of Israel was a special poster published once a year for the Independence Day celebrations of the State of Israel. The posters were chosen by a special committee of artists and intellectuals (including Bezalel Schatz, Yitzchak Danziger, Dan ben Amotz and others), from proposals submitted anonymously by Israeli designers. The winners of the competition were declared a few weeks before Independence Day and the posters they had designed decorated the country that year. In the first decades of the State, the posters gained a unique status in Israeli culture and their design was considered an extraordinary achievement for an Israeli designer. The designers included Yohanan Simon, Pal Kor, the Shamir Brothers, David Tartakover, Jean David and others. The last Independence Day Poster was issued in 2018.

Official poster published for the fourth Independence Day of the State of Israel. Litho-offset S. Monsohn, the Governmental Printer, Jerusalem, 1952. Design: Paul Kor.
An illustration inspired by the verse "They who sow in tear shall reap in joy" (Psalms 126: 5) – two women in biblical attire, one scattering seeds from a sack, and the second raising a sheaf of stalks surrounded by a thin blue and white ribbon.
Approx. 100.5X69 cm. Good condition. Fold lines, tears along the edges and some open tears. Poster professionally restored, with color repairs. Linen-backed for display and preservation.
Provenance: The Rimon Family Collection.

The Independence Day Poster of the State of Israel was a special poster published once a year for the Independence Day celebrations of the State of Israel. The posters were chosen by a special committee of artists and intellectuals (including Bezalel Schatz, Yitzchak Danziger, Dan ben Amotz and others), from proposals submitted anonymously by Israeli designers. The winners of the competition were declared a few weeks before Independence Day and the posters they had designed decorated the country that year. In the first decades of the State, the posters gained a unique status in Israeli culture and their design was considered an extraordinary achievement for an Israeli designer. The designers included Yohanan Simon, Pal Kor, the Shamir Brothers, David Tartakover, Jean David and others. The last Independence Day Poster was issued in 2018.

Official poster published for the sixth Independence Day of the State of Israel. Litho-offset "Kaufman and Co.", the Governmental Printer, Jerusalem, 1954. Design: Gerd Rothschild and Zev Lipman (signed in the plate: "Roli").
An illustration of the remnants of an ancient stone structure with various Jewish symbols (seven-branched Menorah, a Shofar, a Lulav), to which six new bricks were added. Among the bricks, a young olive branch is growing, with six leaves.
Approx. 67X97 cm. Good condition. Creases and stains to verso.
Provenance: The Rimon Family Collection.

The Independence Day Poster of the State of Israel was a special poster published once a year for the Independence Day celebrations of the State of Israel. The posters were chosen by a special committee of artists and intellectuals (including Bezalel Schatz, Yitzchak Danziger, Dan ben Amotz and others), from proposals submitted anonymously by Israeli designers. The winners of the competition were declared a few weeks before Independence Day and the posters they had designed decorated the country that year. In the first decades of the State, the posters gained a unique status in Israeli culture and their design was considered an extraordinary achievement for an Israeli designer. The designers included Yohanan Simon, Pal Kor, the Shamir Brothers, David Tartakover, Jean David and others. The last Independence Day Poster was issued in 2018.