Catalog of a Collection of Photographs by Gérard Allon in the Judaica Collection of the Harvard library

I N T RO D U C T I O N
Gérard Allon: Immigrant, Pioneer, Visionary, Mystic
N I S S A N N. P E R E Z
Gérard Allon is without doubt one of the most prominent figures
in contemporary Israeli photography. Already an accomplished
photographer when he arrived from France in the
1970s, he has increasingly made his presence felt. He was and still is
one of the central figures in the development of camera art, and
through a most natural and organic process he has led it to current
parity with the highest international standards. He has applied photography
in such areas as video, cinema, and holography, where his
constant searching and experimentation have often spearheaded developments.
To understand Allon’s role, it is necessary to look first at
the general state of photography in Israeli society.
Photography in Israeli Society
Life in Israel is marked by a great number of factors, some historic,
others surfacing as a result of the complex national, social, economic,
and geopolitical situation. From the indelible memory of the Holocaust
to the day-to-day concerns of political, social, and security issues
(personal and national), the reality of contemporary Israel creates
a haunting and challenging environment in which living (surviving?)
has become an ever-present challenge. To create art can at times seem
to be a gratuitous and futile act.
How then do artists (also as citizens) come to terms with this distressing
reality that encompasses undiscerning violence, insecurity, social discrimination,
political instability, and other illnesses common to most
contemporary societies? Their cumulative work proposes a wide choice
of alternatives, from first-hand active involvement in the life of their
country, to a total and conscious escapism. The well-defined and refined
personal approaches as well as the diversity of the distinctive strategies
and points of view, reveal a partial, yet up-to-date image of contemporary
Israeli photography and video art, and consequently of life in Israel.
The output of Israeli artists is charged with a wide range of implications
as to the complexity of life in the country. Israeli art reflects deep preoccupations
and is laden with energies, beliefs, tensions, hopes and prayers,
sorrows and joys, trust and suspicion, through which the ghosts from the
past and the present can only be felt partially.
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