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Rokach House and Nachum Gutman Museum
Michelle Laufer
(July 17, 2000) All small streets and courtyards, Neveh Tzedek was the first Jewish neighborhood of Jaffa, built in 1887, predating the founding of Tel Aviv by 22 years.
We were heading for the Nachum Gutman Museum, but passed by the Rokach House - one of the neighborhood�s first houses - en route. And when we peeked through the gate, we saw a weird and wonderful collection of vases and sculptures depicting large women, and found ourselves drawn in.
The first floor features an exhibition of Rokach extended family photos (it was Jerusalemite Shimon Rokach who built Neveh Zedek) through the ages, displayed in the appropriate context - with the original kitchen, dining room, table, chairs and cutlery. On the second floor, a video runs continuously, an idiosyncratic dramatization of Tel Aviv�s settlement. The sculptures have climbed up here too; perhaps not literally, but they do feature figures scaling ladders. The sculptress is Lea Majaro-Mintz, Shimon�s granddaughter; it was she who restored the house.
The Gutman Museum is five minutes away, in the renovated former Writers House - once the editorial offices of Hapoel Hatzair, the newspaper of one the first worker's parties. Gutman (1898-1980), the artist and illustrator whose work chronicles the birth of Israel, lived nearby, at Bustenai 10.
The museum overflows with Gutman's drawings and paintings, and features an especially impressive area for kids, with jigsaw puzzles and an interactive computer game.
The shop sells great posters, relatively inexpensive numbered prints and the books from the annual Gutman illustration contest. We left with a glorious tiger poster for the kids and a self-portrait of the artist at work on the Tel Aviv beach.
Rokach House and Nachum Gutman Museum, 36 and 21 Rokach St., Tel.: (03) 516-2531 or 516-1981
Good Taste
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