Images From the Land of
the Bible
People, Lives and Landscapes, 1898-1934
At the end of the 19th and beginning f
the 20th century the American Colony photographers of Jerusalem
commemorated the lives, people, and sites of Palestine. In
thousands of high-quality photographs they documented the
traditional daily life of inhabitants of the cities and villages,
permanent residents, and wanderers. As believers they thought that
they were thus opening an important window to the way of life in
biblical times, concretizing the background of the biblical
stories. Some of their photographs were painted by artists and sold
to tourists and researchers. A selection of these photos are now
shown for the first time in Israel; this exhibited was made
possible by courtesy of the Jewish Historical Museum of
Amsterdam.
Etan Ayalon, the curator of this exhibit, focused on photographs
that commemorate people at work, at authentic moments of life at
home and in the field, working in a tradition that has long since
disappeared from our world. The superb photos show figures and
landscapes that most likely existed thousands of years ago.
Visitors will be directed to the Man and his Work center in which
many of the items and work tools are on display.
Curator: Dr. Etan Ayalon
Closes: April 2, 2013
Postcards of the American Colony from the
Alexander Collection
The
American Colony photographers eagerly marketed their pictures, with
two purposes: increasing profits and making known their visual
impressions of Palestine worldwide. As part of these efforts,
thousands of postcards with their photographs were printed and sold
as souvenirs or mailed all over the world.
The Alexander Museum of Postal History and
Philately contains an extensive collection of mail of all kinds
amassed by Zvi Alexander, including thousands of postcards dating
from 1890 to 1950. Quite a few of them utilized shots taken by the
American Colony photographers.
The postcards are presented courtesy of the
Alexander collection.