"Just Bring Me Yourself"
Hornblass, Bernice
Don't bring me anything from the war No present No souvenir No gun that's silent now And no bloody sword Don't bring me anything from the war Just bring me yourself By Ziva. 8th Grade Shcvach...
...The Israeli child is an extension of the war events he depicts...
...They are strong and they are direct...
...Tanks are colored pink and entwined with flowers in order to serve as a wedding canopy to a couple taking marriage vows in the battlefield (Plate 23...
...These children were without dreams (Plates 31, 34...
...One can sense the ecstatic joy and relief on the faces and excited movements of the people depicted in the colorfully gay pictures (Plates 19, 20...
...The Israeli children, however, were able to indulge in dreams of peace...
...Men are running, still garbed in prayer shawls, prayer books in hand...
...It is interesting that in the majority of these battle scenes, corpses and enemies are omitted...
...Aware of their own mortality, Israeli children used art as biography...
...Men praying in the synagogue on the holiest of holy days were being called to the front (Plate 1...
...Unable to verbalize their feelings, many of these youngsters "spoke" through the pictures they created in the shelters...
...The wounded soldier being led by two buddies (Plate 9), the blindfolded p.o.w.'s (Plate 11) and the amputee (Plate 12), point to the Israeli child's awareness of vulnerability...
...Their drawings display hopelessness and fear...
...adult and child were not prepared, psychologically or emotionally, for war...
...The hot reds, fuschias and turquoises screeched feelings of loneliness and anguish...
...Each piece relates a personal story, and together, they reveal the war in all its aspects, from the pandemonium and confusion of the call-up on Yom Kippur Day to the dream of the homecoming of loved ones...
...Here are black lines scratched deeply into the paper...
...The children responded with hatred towards the enemy...
...That is why a ten year old girl signed her Bernice Hornblass, formerly an art therapist at The Carrier Clinic in New Jersey, was at the Tel Ha-shomer Hospital in Tel Aviv after the Yom Kippur War...
...There are no dead or silent spaces...
...Lines and fierce colors tremble in this all-over composition...
...Morbid and sadistic, they show elements of destruction and death...
...Israeli and Arab are depicted smoking a peace pipe and exchanging flowers (Plate 21...
...The powerful portrayal of scenes of departure shows how difficult it was for these children to say goodbye to their fathers...
...Soldiers are depicted writing and receiving letters from home, taking showers, and playing soccer, the favorite Israeli sport (Plate 15...
...Their need to create is obvious...
...Their weapons were their paints and crayons, brushes and pens...
...When a soldier is killed or wounded, everyone is affected...
...Their silence is deafening...
...In October 1973, even the very young children, unable to escape the torments of war, spent long hours in shelters...
...Merely a dream at the time, the children drew pictures of happy homecomings...
...There was nowhere to which they could be evacuated...
...The youngsters sent letters and pictures to their brave fighters...
...Their enemy was fear—of death, of loss, of loneliness, of vulnerability...
...The grass is green, the flowers are blooming, the air is fresh and alive...
...home and battlefield were one...
...Israel is a small country...
...The colors other than black and white are thick and exciting...
...Flowers sprout from guns (Plate 25...
...They talked to soldiers, read every available news article and listened attentively to broadcasts (Plate 14...
...The Israeli children display a keen knowledge of the mechanisms and weapons at the front (Plate 7...
...The experience of European children during World War II presents a sharp contrast...
...The Israelis, from the time of inception of the State, have lived in a situation where war is the norm and peace the exception...
...They used art—the process and the product—as an outlet to cry out, to adjust themselves to the events of war that they witnessed firsthand...
...The pictures are cold, colorless and pessimistic...
...8th Grade Shcvach Farbmiein SdHxil Jerusalem Wartime Drawings by Israeli Children Bernice Hornblass When Israel is at war, every citizen is mobilized...
...name in the margin of the war picture she drew as her kibbutz was being shelled, saying, "If we had died, people would have found our drawing and they'd know we had lived here...
...For that reason, no scenes are depicted from afar...
...Only the synagogue with its fiery burning candles stands solidly as if a promise of hope and stability for the future...
...The war struck them personally and directly...
...Yossi Allizi captures the tense climate of October 6, 1973 (Plate 2...
...A hope for peace is spelled out by war planes forming the word "Shalom" (Plate 27...
...Their pictures are gay, bright and optimistic, looking toward a future peace with their Arab neighbors...
...The subject matter is whimsical...
...He is either a father, brother, son, cousin or neighbor...
...Drawings of battle scenes were popular among the boys...
...During the blitzkrieg, the enemy was thrust upon Europe suddenly...
...Planes shoot only messages of peace (Plate 26...
...Repressed fears, as well as genuine expression and understanding of events, surfaced onto paper...
...Even when Gila, a young girl, places Israeli and Arab face to face, not one bullet is shot (Plate 8...
...An embrace perhaps for the last time...
...Tanks, trucks and cars are mobilized...
...The art is frank and daring, spontaneous and vital...
...Yet, his clean clothing will always await him...
...All pictorial images are frontal...
...The inner soul of the Israeli child, his anguish, fear and insecurity are acutely expressed in several woodcuts...
...The youngsters themselves worked in hospitals, filled sandbags and built shelters...
...They needed to be able to strike back...
...Israel was caught by surprise...
...It's a glorious moment...
...The vibrant chronicles are jam-packed with actions of soldiers, tanks and planes...
...These Israeli children express a love for humanity and for life without feelings of revenge for their enemies...
Vol. 3 • December 1977 • No. 2
