Auction 58 - Rare and Important Items
Collection of Posters - "HaMatateh" Satirical Theater - Tel Aviv, 1928-1938
Opening: $5,000
Unsold
Thirty advertising posters of the "Matateh" Theater, advertising its programs (plays). Tel Aviv, 1928-1938. Design: Pesach Irsai, E. (Eliezer) Donath, E. Emanueli (Emanuel Luftglas).
Advertising posters for programs 1, 2, 5, 8, 12, 13 (two slightly different versions), 14, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 28 (two slightly different versions), 30 (two slightly different versions), 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 41, 43, 47 + poster for the operetta "The Land of Smiles" by Franz Lehar (1933, on behalf of "The Matateh Stage for Operettas and Musical Comedies") and a poster for the Purim celebrations of the Matateh Theater (1934).
The Matateh Theater was founded in April 1928 as a platform for political satire, addressing current events in the Jewish-Zionist community in a humoristic and critical manner. The theater's founder and first manager was Yitzhak Moshe Daniel, who had experience managing theaters in Bucharest and Sofia. The Matateh was founded as a cooperative venture whose income was divided equally among its members. The first core of actors included members who had resigned from the Kumkum Theater, founded in 1927 and quickly closed.
Matateh reacted to political events in local life, presenting satirical sketches on subjects such as aliyah, Jewish labor, the Hebrew language, local produce and more. Materials for its plays were written by authors and poets such as Emanuel Harussi, Alexander Penn, Nathan Alterman and Avraham Shlonsky (who wittily defined the Matateh as "The bit of tea [in Hebrew: M'at ha'teh] left over from the Kumkum ['The Kettle']").
Beginning with its program "Hymn for the Produce of Palestine" from 1933, considered the first musical in Palestine, HaMatateh began to present programs made up of skits concentrated around one subject. Many songs and refrains sung in its plays became famous in the Zionist community (yishuv). During the 1936-1939 Riots and later - during the White Paper period and the pre-state years - HaMatateh devoted its sketches to harsh criticism of the British Mandate authorities and their attitude towards the yishuv. In the early years of Israeli statehood the audience was not inclined to appreciate political satires of the state and its institutions, leading to HaMatateh's decline, until its closure in 1954.
The logo of HaMatateh Theater, appearing in most of the posters, was designed by graphic designer and typographer Pesach István Irsai (1896-1968), a prominent modernist graphic artist in Europe in the interwar period and one of the leading graphic artists in Palestine.
Some of the posters were designed by Eliezer-Lajos (Loico) Donath (1902-1969) - an architect, painter, scenic designer and actor and one of the founders of HaKumkum Theater (along with Irsai and Avigdor HaMeiri). Others were designed by Emanuel Luftglas (1896-1958) - a painter, painting teacher and one of the first professional scenic designers in Palestine. Luftglas studied at the Academy of Art in Leipzig and had even worked as a scenic designer on plays for the Hamburg Municipal Theater and the Hamburg Opera from 1915 until his immigration to Palestine in 1926 (serving as HaMatateh's scenic designer throughout the theater's existence).
Average size: 95X62 cm (the advertising poster for program 2 is smaller). Good overall condition. Most of the posters show folding marks, creases, some stains and an ink stamp. Coarse tears to a small number of posters.
Advertising posters for programs 1, 2, 5, 8, 12, 13 (two slightly different versions), 14, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 28 (two slightly different versions), 30 (two slightly different versions), 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 41, 43, 47 + poster for the operetta "The Land of Smiles" by Franz Lehar (1933, on behalf of "The Matateh Stage for Operettas and Musical Comedies") and a poster for the Purim celebrations of the Matateh Theater (1934).
The Matateh Theater was founded in April 1928 as a platform for political satire, addressing current events in the Jewish-Zionist community in a humoristic and critical manner. The theater's founder and first manager was Yitzhak Moshe Daniel, who had experience managing theaters in Bucharest and Sofia. The Matateh was founded as a cooperative venture whose income was divided equally among its members. The first core of actors included members who had resigned from the Kumkum Theater, founded in 1927 and quickly closed.
Matateh reacted to political events in local life, presenting satirical sketches on subjects such as aliyah, Jewish labor, the Hebrew language, local produce and more. Materials for its plays were written by authors and poets such as Emanuel Harussi, Alexander Penn, Nathan Alterman and Avraham Shlonsky (who wittily defined the Matateh as "The bit of tea [in Hebrew: M'at ha'teh] left over from the Kumkum ['The Kettle']").
Beginning with its program "Hymn for the Produce of Palestine" from 1933, considered the first musical in Palestine, HaMatateh began to present programs made up of skits concentrated around one subject. Many songs and refrains sung in its plays became famous in the Zionist community (yishuv). During the 1936-1939 Riots and later - during the White Paper period and the pre-state years - HaMatateh devoted its sketches to harsh criticism of the British Mandate authorities and their attitude towards the yishuv. In the early years of Israeli statehood the audience was not inclined to appreciate political satires of the state and its institutions, leading to HaMatateh's decline, until its closure in 1954.
The logo of HaMatateh Theater, appearing in most of the posters, was designed by graphic designer and typographer Pesach István Irsai (1896-1968), a prominent modernist graphic artist in Europe in the interwar period and one of the leading graphic artists in Palestine.
Some of the posters were designed by Eliezer-Lajos (Loico) Donath (1902-1969) - an architect, painter, scenic designer and actor and one of the founders of HaKumkum Theater (along with Irsai and Avigdor HaMeiri). Others were designed by Emanuel Luftglas (1896-1958) - a painter, painting teacher and one of the first professional scenic designers in Palestine. Luftglas studied at the Academy of Art in Leipzig and had even worked as a scenic designer on plays for the Hamburg Municipal Theater and the Hamburg Opera from 1915 until his immigration to Palestine in 1926 (serving as HaMatateh's scenic designer throughout the theater's existence).
Average size: 95X62 cm (the advertising poster for program 2 is smaller). Good overall condition. Most of the posters show folding marks, creases, some stains and an ink stamp. Coarse tears to a small number of posters.