Oriental Motifs in Israeli Art and Music: Dynamics of the Sign-object Relationship

This essay is aimed at examining the role of Oriental motifs in the establishment of sign-object relationship (semiosis) in Israeli art and music, created by the first two generations of national artists and composers in the period from the 1920s to the 1970s. This period is the most indicative from the point of view under consideration and sheds light on the further development of these types of national art, when the place of Oriental motifs has already been found, and they are not an end in themselves in the arsenal of the creator. The article explores Oriental rather than Jewish narratives (or at least a delicate balance between them) in Israeli visual arts and classical music from the first decades after World War I up to the postmodern era. The main milestones in this process are considered based on the analysis of several selected artifacts. The findings of the study show that artists' acquaintance with the local motif (in the artworks created by the first generation) proceeds to the work with and comprehension of various Oriental, Jewish, and Israeli symbols characteristic of the works created by the second generation. The direct and indirect effects of this process on art and music created in a later period up to the present can be recommended as a direction for further study of this topic.