When it comes to aristocracy, the Dayan family is the nearest thing Israel has. In the US you have your Kennedys and Rockefellers, in the UK there is the whole landed gentry class plus, of course, the royal family. Here it is a little more complicated. The local “upper class” covers all sorts of sectors – those with military and/or political upper echelon connections and some who have amassed huge amounts of wherewithal over the years. In general, the Dayan dynasty, across its various branches, belongs to the former category. Now we can all get a closer, pictorial, look at the extensive family stretch courtesy of a photographic exhibition currently in progress at the Beit Shturman museum at Kibbutz Ein Harod. The “Family Album” show, curated by Guy Raz, includes all the usual suspects and then some. Raz agrees with the idea that the Dayan clan is probably the preeminent bunch of the lot, with deep pioneering roots. “Before you get to the Israeli aristocracy, you have the aristocracy of the Valley,” he notes. The region in question in the Jezreel Valley, which is considered the cradle of many a Zionist start-up, long before the advent of the State of Israel. Foremost among the communities in this class are Tel Adashim and Nahalal, with the Dayan family pertaining to the latter moshav, the country's first, established in 1921. The name Dayan, naturally, conjures up images of that most famous of eye patches, sported by late IDF chief of staff and defense minister Moshe Dayan. But the family and its various offshoots are studded with celebs. Consider the names of late president Ezer Weizman; and Yigal Hurvitz, who served as finance minister under Menachem Begin and later joined the Telem party founded by none other than his cousin Moshe Dayan. Yael Dayan in 2003, a year after contracting chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. (VARDI KAHANA) Further down the lineage line you have celebrated actor-director Assi Dayan; writer and MK Yael Dayan; acclaimed writer Yehonatan Geffen; the latter's rock musician son Aviv; and writer-actress Shira, who is married to internationally renowned writer Etgar Keret. Not a bad spread, and one that provides irrefutable evidence of the Dayan family's claim to aristocratic status here in the Middle East. “When it comes to culture, you are probably talking about the Banai family,” Raz notes, “but in local terms, the Dayans are the most aristocratic of the lot. They are also the most photographed family.” That, naturally, is a boon for anyone, such as Raz, looking to put on an exhibition, and the prints Raz selected from among the piles of family photo albums make for impressive viewing. The chronological documentation begins with the Dayans' antecedents, the Haya family, back in Ukraine of the early 20th century. Shmuel Dayan, Moshe's dad, and his family are in there, as is Avraham Dayan, Moshe's grandfather. The cross-generational photographer roster is also equally notable, with works provided by Israel Prize Laureate Micha Bar-Am, Zoltan Kluger, Micha Kirshner and Vardi Kahana. “If I had pictures by all those great photographers available to me, I could almost put together a history of Israeli photography,” Raz notes. “You could examine the development of photography in the Land of Israel through a single family.” “Family Album” takes in historically intriguing frames alongside pictures that are instantly recognizable. Despite Raz's enduring and expansive work in the field of photography exhibitions on a wide range of topics up and down the country over the years, tackling such a well-known bunch of subjects presents its own challenges. Was the curator at all in awe of the characters in question? “Maybe a little at the beginning,” he concedes, “but you get down to the business of deciding how to show the pictures.” The obvious advantage of having so much raw material at your disposal can be offset by the task of coming up with something fresh. There are several prints at Beit Shturman which many will have seen before, in the press, online or on TV over the years, but the vast majority will be eye-openers for visitors. “That's the mission,” says Raz, “providing a new perspective on such a well-known group of people, as well as matching the collection to the space. For example, the wall with works by Micha Kirshner and Vardi Kahana is a dominant area of the exhibition. You have Kirshner's magazine-style photography of the 1980s and 1990s, which comes across on this wall.” Indeed, the stylistic spread is as broad as the chronological range and, naturally, the characters that make up this most famous of Israeli families. The show is also something of a marker that reflects how Israeli society, and the country's social and political sensibilities, have evolved. Take, for example, the stock portraiture of the early days of Nahalal, such as the evocative print of Moshe Dayan, his mother Devora and sister Aviva, taken at the moshav in 1925, by an unknown photographer. And there is the classic shot of Shmuel Dayan in a clearly posed picture teeming with overt pioneering spirit, behind a house and plow, taken by Kluger in 1947. Things become a little more consumer-friendly, in a contemporary sense, with Yakov Agor's fetching monochrome 1975 photo of Yehonatan Geffen with his wife Nurit and infant offspring Shira and Aviv. One of the most attractive items is a delightful sibling threesome, taken in 1960 by Italian journalist and film critic Guglielmo Biraghi, of Ruth and Moshe Dayan's children Assi, Yael and Udi. And, while we're on the subject of Ruth, Moshe Dayan's first wife who recently celebrated her 100th birthday, she appears in possibly the most emotive of all the 72 prints on show. It was taken in 2009 by Tomer Noiberg and it shows a clearly seriously unhealthy Assi Dayan with his concerned, but iron-strong, mother. It is a behind-the-scenes peek prior to the Ophir, Israeli Academy of Film and Television ceremony at which Assi received a lifetime Achievement Award. A monochrome 1975 photo of Yehonatan Geffen with wife Nurit and infant offspring Shira and Aviv. (YAKOV AGOR) “Family Album” is as varied a historical photography exhibition you could hope to encounter. “An anthropologist could see the show and research the clothing you see there,” says Raz. “There are countless sources of information there. You could see how, for example, photographs were taken in Jerusalem or in the [Jezreel] Valley. There are so many aspects that are not necessarily Dayan-related.” And then you get to the Kahana works, which are the most eye-catching, and controversial, of the lot. There is a startling work of Nurit and Aviv Geffen with the latter posing as a deceased Jesus held by his mother, clearly in the role of Mary. This is direct reference to the iconographic Pieta category of Christian art. That was taken in 2003, a decade after a nude of Aviv with the print cut off around the then 20-year-old's “sensitive parts,” thereby imbuing the work with a distinct androgynous air. At the time, the picture caused quite a stir across the country, but placing that in the context of the Dayan dynasty, with all its political, military and pioneering heroes, accentuates the oxymoronic element even further. “You have the masculine side of the family – the military and political stuff – and the female side,” Raz notes. “That picture of Aviv connects with the female side. It seems you have to connect with the female side if you want to aim for peace,” he laughs. There is, says Raz, something for everything in “Family Album.” “You can see the way society here has developed, and also photography. And this is the Dayan family, possibly the most important dynasty we have. “Family Album” closes on November 11. For more information: (04) 648-6337 and www.beit-shturman.co.il
