Colonial Diplomacy Through Art (jerusalem 1918–1926)

By (author) Tönnies, Moya
Description:
In this groundbreaking art historical study that centers on Jerusalem under British rule, Moya Tönnies investigates how individual colonial actors tried to influence official colonial policy. She shows how from an early stage onwards, Great Britain’s Jewish National Home policy divided government circles and policy makers in London and in the Middle East. She analyses how three members of the British administration of Palestine used art as a diplomatic sphere for the protection of Arab Palestinian heritage. Between 1918 and 1926, artist C. R. Ashbee, architect Ernest Tatham Richmond, and governor of Jerusalem Ronald Storrs, all three identifying with the International Arts and Crafts Movement, attempted to slow down and counteract the implementation of Zionist culture by emphasizing the Arab character of local cultural heritage. This included their attempts to facilitate the overdue restoration of the Dome of the Rock in order to discourage contemporary pronouncements calling for the rebuilding of the Third Temple. The Temple Mount dispute and numerous other art-related aspects within the historic Zionist-Arab conflict are meticulously researched. In her innovative approach, building on archive material and artefacts, the author illustrates the complexity of British rule in Palestine through the arts.
Table of contents:
Acknowledgements Archives List of Figures Abbreviations Introduction  1 Critical Colonialism as Counterpoint to the “War on Palestine”  2 Ashbee, Richmond, and Storrs in Scholarly Research  3 Three Methodological Revisions  4 Critical Colonialism as Counterculture Part 1: Prerequisites 1833–1917 1 Discourses on the Demolition of Jerusalem  1 Vulnerable Jerusalem  2 The Dome of the Rock  3 Aesthetic Interest in Loosened Tiles  4 The Question of the Byzantine Origins of the Dome of the Rock  5 Systematic Knocking Down of the Dome of the Rock’s Façade  6 Plans for the Reconstruction of the Jewish Temple 2 English and Armenian Sensitivity to Middle Eastern Tiles  1 Frederick Leighton and William De Morgan  2 Mark Sykes and David Ohannessian 3 C. R. Ashbee and the Preservation Movement 4 Ronald Storrs and the Souls 5 The Friendship of Storrs and Ernest Tatham Richmond  1 “The Weighing of Souls”  2 Somers Clarke’s Teaching  3 Richmond’s House in Zenin  4 Maison Storrs  5 T. E. Lawrence’s and Storrs’ Hejaz Stamps  6 Gertrude Bell and the Preservation of Baghdad’s Architecture 6 Early Stages of the Balfour Declaration  1 Warnings from the Arab Bureau in Cairo  2 Coming to Jerusalem  3 Focus on the Haram  4 Focus on the Jewish University  5 Storrs’ Initial Fundraising  6 Longing for Harry Cust Part 2: Military Rule: “the Plastic Period” 1918–1919 7 Storrs’ Early Pro-Arab Advocacy  1 Obstructing Chaim Weizmann and the Zionist Commission  2 The Visit of the Muslim Orphans’ Theatre-Play  3 Military Display of Power on the Haram  4 Nabi Musa Celebration at the Governorate 8 Prohibitive Legislations  1 Improvement Acts  2 The Public Notice  3 The City of Jerusalem Town Planning Scheme  4 Authorship of the “McLean Plan”  5 The Artistic Aspect of the Map  6 The Foundation Stone-Laying of the Jewish University as Breach of the Status Quo 9 Forming an Organizational Agent: the Pro-Jerusalem Society  1 Storrs’ Struggle for Richmond’s Arrival  2 Muslim Funding  3 The Financial Need for the Pro-Jerusalem Council  4 The First Pro-Jerusalem Meetings  5 Local Support from the École biblique  6 Opposition from Zionist Archaeology  7 The City of Jerusalem Building Permits  8 Jerusalem’s Monuments historiques  9 Ashbee’s Signet of the Pro-Jerusalem Society 10 A Ceramic Workshop on the Haram  1 Beginnings in the Mufti’s Garden  2 Change Keeping the Dome of the Rock “Alive”  3 The Arrival of David Ohannessian  4 The Haram Workshop  5 The Foundation of the Haram Museum  6 Richmo