David Ben-Gurion Standing on His Head (Sharon Hotel Beach, Herzliya)
Paul Goldman
1957
Paul Goldman was notable for keeping his distance from his subjects, perhaps as a show of respect. He photographed many of Israel’s early leaders. Here, David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, is doing a handstand on Herzliya beach after a lesson by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, inventor of the Feldenkrais Method, a form of physical exercise designed to increase well-being and self-awareness through movement.
Credits
Paul Goldman, MUSA, Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv Collection.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 9.
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Creator Bio
Paul Goldman
Unrecognized until after his death, Paul Goldman produced an extensive body of work, totaling more than forty thousand images; it is now celebrated as one of the greatest photographic archives of a critical period in Israeli history. Born in Budapest, Goldman immigrated to Palestine in 1940, joining the British Army and then earning a living as a freelance photojournalist for local newspapers and international news services. Because press photographers were not credited for their work at this time, Goldman’s oeuvre remained unacknowledged until 2000, when David Rubinger, Time magazine’s Israel photographer, uncovered his remarkable collection of negatives. A selection of Goldman’s photos was the subject of a 2005 exhibition at the Hebrew Union College’s Jewish Institute of Religion Museum in New York.
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