Concept

How this memorable painting was conceived and commissioned...

David Ben-Gurion did much to set the informal tone of Israeli society. He would probably be amused by – and somewhat skeptical of – the many events that were held to mark the centenary of his birth. But Israel’s first Prime Minister also had a keen sense of history and understood the need for future generations to remember the great events that helped shape their world.

From this perspective, David Ben-Gurion, the ”Old Man“ of Israeli politics, would certainly have admired and appreciated the remarkable commemorative portrait which was created by the American-Israeli artist Michel Schwartz.

The work is a celebration of Ben-Gurion, and one that recalls the greatest moments of his extraordinary life: for shaping the contours of his face and forming the background of the portrait are the words of Israel’s Declaration of Independence, which Ben-Gurion broadcast to the world on that memorable Friday, May 14, 1948.

Teddy Kollek, Mayor of Jerusalem

Ted Kennedy, U.S. Senate

The idea for the portrait was born in early 1986, when Michel hosted several visitors, all of whom had worked with David Ben-Gurion during his premiership, at his elegant Jerusalem gallery. Teddy Kollek, Jerusalem’s fabled mayor, Yitzak Navon, former President and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education and Culture, and Ralph Goldman, Chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee, had come to view Michel’s unique blend of fine art and Hebrew calligraphy.

The visitors were particularly taken with a ”micrographic“ portrait which the artist had created to mark the 80th birthday of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, shlita. This painting is composed of the more than 12,600 Hebrew letters of the Rebbe’s inaugural“ sicha (discussion) which he delivered when he became the Lubavitch leader in 1951. The style of the Rebbe’s portrait led Ralph Goldman to recall one of Ben-Gurion’s most treasured possessions – a penmanship drawing of Abraham Lincoln which incorporates the full text of his ”Proclamation of Emancipation.“

After discussions with Kollek and Navon, Goldman told Schwartz that when Ben-Gurion made his first visit to the United States as Israel’s Prime Minister, he heard himself referred to repeatedly as ”the George Washington of his country.“ Ben-Gurion accepted the comparison gracefully, but ”Ben-Gurion“ had identified with another American statesman. ”I would rather,“ he commented, ”be remembered as the Abraham Lincoln of Israel.“

Al Schwimmer and Hank Greenspun

Ambassador Mohammed Basyouni,

Egyptian Ambassador to Israel

Twenty years later, on his last visit to America, Ben-Gurion was given a copy of the portrait of Lincoln in penmanship, drawn by W.H. Pratt in 1865. He brought the picture to his desert home at Kibbutz Sde Boker and hung it on the wall of his modest hut, where he worked until his death, in 1973. It hangs there to this day.

”Why not do something similar to mark Ben-Gurion’s centennial?“ asked Goldman. Ben-Gurion, he was sure, would have loved it.

Michel liked the idea and the challenge, and set to work almost immediately. First, he sketch-painted a conventional portrait of Ben-Gurion, a composite of

many photographic poses.

Then he began that painstaking task of ”sculpting onto the painting, in a full range of colors, the 3,265 letters which make up Israel’s ”Declaration of Independence.“

This artist was not alone in seeing his Ben-Gurion portrait as a work of particular artistic and historic merit. After completing the painting, which includes the names of the original signatories to the Declaration, Michel decided to invite those who had been close to Ben-Gurion to autograph the original painting.

Israel’s then-Prime Minister, Shimon Peres, a Ben-Gurion protégé, endorsed the idea by signing the portrait within its bottom margin. So, too, did Yitzhak Navon, Ben-Gurion’s former political secretary, and Teddy Kollek, who served as Director-General of the Prime Minister’s office under Ben-Gurion.

Senator Howard Metzenbaum,

U.S. Senate, Ohio

Encouraged by this auspicious beginning, he decided to continue to solicit the signatures of leaders of the Jewish people, both in Israel and abroad, and in fact has had the painting autographed by over 100 dignitaries, in keeping with the 100th Anniversary of the birth of Ben-Gurion. These include, among others, Prime Minister Yitzak Shamir, President Chaim Herzog, Ministers Moshe Arens, Arik Sharon, Moshe Nissim, Abba Eban, Yitzak Rabin, Yosef Burg, David Levy, among many others.

Senator Daniel Inouye, U.S.

Senate, Hawaii

Also represented were the then Hadassah President Ruth Popkin, the ADL’s Abe Foxman and Nathan Perimutter. Wizo World President Raya Jaglom, Jewish Agency Chairman Aryeh Dulzin, JNF head Moshe Rivlin, Nobel Laureate Elle Wiesel and former Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren.

Recognizing that his one-man tribute to Ben-Gurion was capable of generating international interest, the artist took himself and his portrait off to Washington, D.C., where his ambition was none other the then President of the United States Ronald Reagan, who had earlier accepted the post of Honorary Chairman of the American Committee for the Ben-Gurion Centennial.

The exuberant Schwartz, who worked as a public relations consultant in New York for 35 years before coming to live in Israel last year, was no stranger to the Reagan White House. He had helped promote one of the President’s pet projects, the 1984 International Youth Year Conference in Jamaica.

When Schwartz made his proposal for the President to autograph the portrait, Reagan’s aides were skeptical: ”They said, ‘Michel, the President just doesn’t sign paintings.’ I said, ‘Just show him the picture and let the president decide.’“ The artist duly returned to Jerusalem with Ronald Reagan’s signature personally inscribed, clearly and proudly, on his work.

Abba Eban signing the Portrait

This signing was followed by others, including Vice President George Bush, Senators Kennedy, Metzenbaum and Inouye. This was then followed by the signatures of former President Jimmy Carter, the then Egyptian Ambassador to Israel Mohamad Bassyouni and the American Ambassador Thomas Pickering to Israel. The object of this quest for signature recognition was to show the Jewish people, particularly the youth of Israel; the high esteem in which Ben-Gurion – and, by association, the State of Israel – is held. ”I think that this portrait and concept of recognition will add to the great impact that the Ben-Gurion centennial celebrations have had throughout the world.“