Large Decorative Plate with the Flying Camel Logo – The Levant Fair – Tel-Aviv, 1934

Large Decorative Plate with the Flying Camel Logo – The Levant Fair – Tel-Aviv, 1934
Large Damascene work decorative plate featuring the flying camel logo, reading "Levant Fair" in Hebrew, English and Arabic. Tel-Aviv, 1934.
Round plate; central large flying camel, the logo designed by artist and architect Arieh Elhanani in 1932 for the first Levant Fair. The camel faces the sun, while his hind legs touch the emblem of Tel-Aviv. Three oval cartouches surrounding the camel read "Levant Fair" in Hebrew, English and Arabic. The background with dense grapevine pattern, interspersed with bunches of grapes.
The first Levant Fair was preceded by several exhibitions and fairs of locally produced goods held in Tel-Aviv between 1923 and 1929. The 1932 fair, the first to be called the "Levant Fair", was international, with companies from dozens of countries exhibiting goods. It also included amusement rides and various exhibits in a variety of fields, as well as movies, entertainment and more. The fair was held in 1932, 1934 and 1936, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors, many of them tourists. The showcase of the Yishuv's achievements in the fields of commerce, industry and agriculture left a cultural legacy: the permanent buildings built for the 1934 fair, the works of art that were ordered for it and the printed material that accompanied it are all shining examples of the height of Modernist architecture, design and graphics.
This plate is featured on the cover of "The Flying Camel, 85 Years of Exhibitions and Fairs in Tel-Aviv" exhibition catalog (Hebrew), by Mordechai Naor and Batya Karmiel. Tel-Aviv: Israel Trade Fairs and Convention Center and the Eretz Israel Museum, 2010 (enclosed).
Brass inlaid with silver and copper (Damascene work). Diameter: 70.5 cm. Good condition. Bends and minor welding repairs (a large welding repair on verso).