If the old adage “A caricature is worth at least a thousand words” stands the test of time, past and present, then Israeli caricatures and the generations of their creators in the last four score years of pre-Statehood, of a country still in its infancy and a independence State, has sayings that top even this achievement.
In contrast to the rest of the world, caricaturists presence in the very heart of these momentous events (and there were many such significant and historic moments), their documentation through use of line and color, using pens, pencils and brushes (while providing a firsthand look and an educated and varied interpretation), and their personal and collective experiences that accompany the establishment of their nation in their homeland all provided Israeli caricaturists full license in terms of incorporating a real sense of funny with an authentically journalist approach.
The generations of Israeli caricaturists knew many periods of plenty; there was the multitude and intensity of events at home from the early ‘20s onwards, the reality of a small and diversified population, a people comprised of veteran natives
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and new immigrants, of religious and secular alike, of a quilt like tapestry of Eastern and Western cultures, of Jews and Arabs, of those respites when the bloody conflict abated for a time. These all provided topical events and issues aplenty for the caricaturists art.
And these events repeated themselves in ever widening circles, providing caricature artists with fertile soil for their creations - from the early days in the fight against the Mandate rule, the war years of the Holocaust, the struggle for an independence state, the establishment, founding and strengthening of that State.
Such were the founding fathers of Israeli caricatures, artists such as Aryeh Navon who began his career in the 1920s, Yosef Bass and Yehosha Edri from the thirties and the reinforcement of the “Hungarian Mafia” that arrived here over sixty years ago, including Dosh (Kariel Gardosh), Zeev (Yaakov Farkash) and Shmuel Katz, who elevated Israeli caricatures to new heights. There were many talented artists that joined them – Friedel Stern, Ranan Lurie and Perry Rosenfeld, artists either born here or newly arrived who used their skills to strengthen the image of the Israeli caricature journalist.
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