Newspaper Page Text
Pag* Fourteen
THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Friday, S*pt. 22, 1967
Jossi Stan; “Art Is Like
n n
V
By CHARLES M. SEGAL
(A Seven Arte Feature)
Twenty—five years a
group of “illegal" immigrants-—
after an arduous journey that in
cluded imprisonment at Atlit by
the British—were finally permitt
ed to live in Palestine. Among
them was a teenager from Hun
gary named Jossi Stem.
In 1939, his “assimilationist"
family in Budapest assured Jossi
that Hitler would never come into
Hungary to threaten Jews—es
pecially the Jews who were no
Jews. But Jossi felt otherwise
and after Hitler had taken
Czechoslavakia. the youngster —
who had declared himself a Zion
ist at 14 years of age—contact
ed the “underground railroad to
Palestine." This was done in
secret. Not even his parents
knew. Six months later, he was
summoned for the journey As
Jossi puts it.
“The journey meant a voyage
aboard a German ship—the cap
tain had been bribed — to Rou-
mcnia. Living on the frozen Dan
ube for three months on a barge
converted into a houseboat. Play
ing hide-and-seek with the Bri.-
ish aboard a Turkish coal steame-
until the Br.tish finally caught
up with the ‘illegals’ and impris
oned them in Atlit.”
Today, Jossi Stern is one of
Israel’s most noted artists, whoso
works have been acclaimed i.i
his own country, the United
States and Europe.
Taken under the wing of Youth
Aliyah following the Atlit im
prisonment, his career in art was
given its first important boost by
Henrietta Szold, founder of Ha
dassah, who also headed Youth
Aliyah.
“I met he- at Youth Aliya.i
headquarters,” Jossi remembers.
“I showed hei my sketches and
she picked out a drawing of an
olive tree which I gave her.
Then she said'
“What kind of artist would
you like to be??’
“I replied: ‘I would like to be
the Walt Whitman of painting’.
Eighty Outstanding Americans
Call For Direct Peace Talks
NEW YORK (JTA) — Eighty
American leaders in science, ed
ucation, literature, law, econom
ics, art, architecture and public
affairs have called on the United
States Government to initiate
within the United Nations, and
outside the world organization,
actions to induce the Arab states
tc enter into direct peace negoti
ations with Israel.
Sixteen of the signatories to
the statement are Nobel Laure
ates. One of the latter, Dr. I. I.
Rabi, University Professor Emer
itus at Columbia University, and
winner of the Nobel Prize in
Physics in 1944, transmitted the
appeal to President Johnson on
behalf of all the signatories.
Calling Israel “a great human
and creative source,” the state
ment declared that, to preserve
and encourage Israel, “is surely
a major responsibility of the civ
ilized world.” “Enabled to devel
op in peace,” the signatories
stated, “Israel’s contribution to
the region and to the world may
rival in fruitfulness and enduring
quality that of the ancient state
in the days of the Bible. Once
peace settlements have been
reached, it becomes possible to
tackle the formidable human de
velopment problems of the region,
which have resisted solution until
now.”
“In fact and in principle,” the
statement declared, “Israel’s se
curity is bound up with our own.
Without peace settlements enter
ed into by Israel and each of the
warring states, we are only stor-
War Criminals'
Punishment Sel
For UN Discussion
UNITED NATIONS (WUP) —
The question of the punishment
of war criminals and of persons
who have committed crimes
against humanity — already dis
cussed by the Commission on
Human Rights and the Econom
ic and Social Council — will be
taken up by the 22nd session of
the General Assembly which
opened here on Tuesday, Sept.
19.
The Human Rights Commission
has made several recommenda
tions on ths vital question. These
were adopted by the Economic
and Social Council in a resolu
tion which “urged all states to
take measures necessary to pre
vent the application of statutory
limitation to war crimes and
crimes against humanity, to con
tinue their efforts to ensure the
arrest, extradition and punish
ment of persons responsible for
war crimes, and to make avail
able to other states any docu
ments in their possession relat-
rng to such crimes.”
ing up fuel for new outbreaks,
with no assurance that a new en
counter can be contained or res
tricted either to»- conventional
weapons or to regional states.”
Five of the signatories had
initiated the appeal, stating its
purpose as “to support our Gov
ernment and others seeing a set
tlement of the conflict in the
Middle East, which is realistic
and capable of stabilizing the
area after 20 years and three
wars.”
The five, who made the state
ment public, were: Dr. Louis F.
Fieser, professor of chemistry at
Harvard University; Dr. Maurice
Goldhaber, a member of the Na
tional Aoademy of Sciences; Dr.
Robert Hofstadter, professor of
physics at Stanford University
and 1961 Nobel Prize winner; Dr.
Rabi;and Dr. David Rittenberg,
chairman of the biochemistry de
partment at the Columbia Uni
versity College of Physicians and
Surgeons.
Israel Repatriates
Egyptian Civilians
TEL AVIV (JTA)—Israel rep
atriated 346 Egyptian civilians and
eight wounded soldiers under an
arrangement negotiated by the
International Red Cross, it was
announced here. The group was
ferried across the Suez Canal at
El Quantara. Included were 29?
officials and teachers from the
Gaza Strip, whose wives and
children were returned to Egypt
on August 3.
Half-Jewish Son
Of Svetlana Won
Stalin’s Affection
NEW YORK (WUP) — In
Svetlana Alliluyeva’s letters,
which have been appearing in
serial form in the New York
Times, there’s a reference to her
first Jewish husband, Yakov, and
their half-Jewish son, Iosif. She
notes with amazement that her
father, Stalin, had “displayed
love and tenderness toward my
son, the son of my first husband,
a Jew, and a man my father re
fused to meet even once. I’ll
never forget,” she adds, “how
scared I was the first time my
father saw Iosif. He was about
3 and very cute . . . with huge,
shiny Jewish eyes and long
lashes.”
Svetlana notes further that, al
though she didn’t know exactly
how her father would approve of
the boy when he first met him—
“I’ll never forget how scared 1
was”—Stalin took to him im
mediately and played with him
“for half an hour.”
“She smiled and said that it
war a ‘laudable ambition’. And
then she added: ‘Don’t be afraid
We will help you to become a
good artist. One also can be a
pioneer with a pencil and brush.
There will come a time when we
need artists as well as good la
borers’.”
Shortly after that interview,
Jossi entered the Bezalel Art
School in Jerusalem—where he
now teaches—and, upon gradua
tion, continued his studies in Eng
land, France, Holland, Italy,
Greece and the United States.
“To me, art is like talk,” ho
said recently. “It is a free ex
pression, like writing in a diary.
It provides me the opportu.iity of
expressing in graphic terms my
meeting with life.
‘Therefore, it is to me very
dynamic and every period brings
something new to express. I am
changing and the world is chang
ing and this meeting between
both of us is always fresh.”
In 1941, art in Palestine was
very poetical, sentimental but full
of the pioneer spirit, he recalled.
It reminded Jossi of a “mixture”
of the art of Diego Riviera and
Marc Chagall.
“I came into this art,” he said.
‘My teacher was Mordecai Ar-
don, a student of Paul Klee and
Kandinsky. He opened my eyes
to the miracle of modern vision.
Still, I never disappear in forms
and color. I have much more to
say.”
“The newcomers to Israel from
Europe brought with them the
strong expressionism cf Germ
any — of Emil Nolde and Otto
Mueller — which again changed
the view of Israeli art. The
younger generation of art stu
dents, who hac visited major Eur
opean art centers, became imbued
with different ‘styles’ of contem
porary art. Toddy, there is a
whole generation of avant garde
artists in Israel which is up-to-
date and international like all the
artists in the world.”
But Jossi is concerned with the
direction of art in Israel today.
The Israeli artist is being torn
between painting what he wants
to paint and producing pictures
that are saleable.
“I would like Israel art to grow
organically,” he -said, “and not be
pushed or influenced by artifical
aid from cultural philanthropies
in countries other than Israel.”
Jossi believes that if you want
to help an Israeli artist, by all
means do so. But don’t tell him
what to paint. Let him paint whac
he feels like painting. Let him
express himself. Do not stifle his
creativity.
Jos3i, who was in the United
States recently on a UNESCO f el-
KAVSh.p, hope.: to return here in
two years. We look forward to his
return and to ?. major exhibition
of his works in an important
American gallery.
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