David Ben Gourion read the independance declaration of Israël State
Tel Aviv, may 14, 1948 ©DR
At four o'clock in the afternoon on the eve of Shabbat, on the 14th of May 1948 (5th Iyar 5708), beneath the portrait of Theodor Herzl in a modest hall in the Tel-Aviv Museum, David Ben Gurion read the Proclamation of Independence of the State of Israel to the members of the Jewish National Council, the declaration's cosignatories.
As an adolescent, Michael Levin's fascination for the history of his century led him to seek meetings with its first-hand witnesses and carry out extensive archive research. In the early 70s, he embarked on a quest to identify all the participants and details of the ceremony of the Declaration of Independence. Today, he is offering us the fruit of this painstaking investigation: his correspondence with the declaration's cosignatories, "The Founding Fathers", the photographic, film and sound recordings of the official event, the editorial stages of the text, the reflection on the name to be given to the Jewish State, the organization of the ceremony, etc. His research sheds new light on this historic moment in the birth of the State of Israel, in which inventiveness came to the aid of haste.
The exhibition marks the 60th anniversary of the Independence of the State of Israel.
Michael Levin is a graphic designer. Born in Israel, he has lived and worked in Paris since 1984. He created and runs the Doc Levin studio. In 2007, there was an exhibition of his work at the Passage de Retz Gallery, Paris: Doc Levin, cabinet de graphisme général.
© Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaïsme