Photographer/Creator

Chet Smolski, Rhode Island College

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Date

3-1980

Description

Tel Aviv quickly earned the nickname the White City, and from this photograph (2 of 6) it’s easy to see where it came from. The city’s architecture is overwhelmingly in the International and Bauhaus style. The architecture is designed to favor function over form. The functionalism of Tel Aviv’s architecture compliments the socialist aesthetic of 1930s and 40s Zionist political mentality. The International style embraced in Tel Aviv is now understood to be a perfect match for the Zionist project.

The nickname “White City” is not without controversy, and debates over Tel Aviv’s double image as White City and Black City have emerged in recent years. Namely, the term Black City referring to the disadvantaged south.

Notes

Hatuka, Tali. Violent Acts and Urban Space in Contemporary Tel Aviv. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2010) p. 103-104, 152

Mann, Barbara E. A Place in History: Modernism, Tel Aviv, and the Creation of Jewish Urban Space. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006) p. 158-161

Creator 1 Role

Photographer

Subject Headings

Land use -- Aerial photography in land use -- Israel -- Tel Aviv; Cities and towns -- Israel -- Tel Aviv; Architecture, Modern -- 20th century -- Modern movement;

Country Name

Israel

City Name

Tel Aviv

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Keywords

bauhaus, international style, tourism, israel, tel aviv, aerial

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