Dosh – Seven Political Caricatures

Dosh – Seven Political Caricatures
Seven original caricatures by Dosh (Kariel Gardosh). [Israel, ca. 1950s-1960s].
Felt-tip pen, ink and correction fluid on paper.
Dosh is the pseudonym of Karl (Kariel) Gardosh (1921-2000). He was born in Budapest; after finishing high school in Budapest, he studied at the University of Szeged. With the outbreak of WWII, he was sent to a forced labor camp. Upon his return to Budapest after the war, he discovered that his parents and most of his family had perished in the Holocaust. In early 1946, he left Hungary and moved to Paris where he studied comparative literature at the Sorbonne. In 1948, Gardosh immigrated to Israel, changed his name to Kariel, joined the Lechi and found work drawing caricatures for its journal, HaMa'as. Gardosh was arrested following the murder of Folke Bernadotte, and after his release, he worked as the graphic editor of the magazine HaOlam HaZe. In 1953 he joined Maariv, where he published a daily caricature for many years. Gradually he started writing articles, stories and skits for the newspaper. He also wrote for the Hungarian-language newspaper Új Kelet (The New East). In 1956, Dosh first created the figure of Israelik, who became a popular symbol of the State of Israel and its people. Later, the name Israelik was shortened to Srulik (see item 262).
Most of these caricatures feature Srulik, representing the State of Israel, and deal with the military conflicts with Egypt, Israel's inner politics, Israel's relations with other countries and the Six-Day War. Some of them were captioned by Dosh or bear printing instructions in pencil and in pen.
Approx. 18X22 cm to 19.5X32.5 cm. Good condition. Yellowing paper. Stains. Creases. Fold lines. Minor closed and open tears, some restored, mostly not affecting the caricatures. Large open tears at the edges of two leaves, not affecting the caricatures. Torn filing holes. Crayon scribble on one of the leaves.
Provenance: The Rimon Family Collection.