Artwork Description:
File 1126
There were not very many places in Tel Aviv to which I was attracted, but I was really taken with this seashore scene and enjoyed painting it. On my frequent visits to Israel, starting in 1955, I would always have occasion to visit both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and very soon found the latter much more to my liking. I would say of Tel Aviv what I used to say of New York when living in my native Toronto - a great place to visit, but I would not want to live there. I have always loved the way Jerusalem developed with very few high-rises. Most people live in neighborhoods, of which their residents are very proud. Tel Aviv seems unplanned, and in a big rush to expand. Early on it started building high rises, as opposed to developing its various neighbourhoods, encouraging civic pride. When I moved to Israel in 1979, I decided to take up residence in Jerusalem.
Smaller, identifiable neighbourhoods bring their residents into dialogue, encourage creativity, provide opportunities for civic pride, and improve their general emotional security. Such communities are more desirable places in which to live. They are places in which people care about their neighbours. They enhance a sense of individual privileges and autonomies, and a sense of communal and civic accountability. Large municipalities seem to lose any culture of individualism. I believe it is easier to act as a citizen of a neighbourhood, and have some impact of the country at large, than it is as a citizen of a large metropolis.