Gabi

(Gabriella Rosenthal, German-Israeli illustrator, cartoonist and teacher)

When I visited the New Synagogue in Berlin last Sunday, I was excited to find that there was a special exhibition on the works of a cartoonist: Gabriella Rosenthal. I liked her style and her attitude right away. The casual ink drawings, gently colourised, reminded me slightly of Wilhelm Busch’s illustrations. And all her works show the unbiased irony of an open and liberal mind and love of mankind with all its facets and quirks.

Gabriella Rosenthal emigrated from Germany to Palestine in 1935. The exhibition puts the focus on her works from 1938 to 1955, the exciting and troubled years around the birth of modern Israel.

There is also a fine book about Rosenthal and the exhibition published by Hentrich & Hentrich: »Es war einmal in Jerusalem«.