Colonial Diplomacy through Art

Moya Tönnies, Ph.D. in Art History, conducted research for this study as a member of the Department of History of Art and Architecture at Freie Universität Berlin. Previously trained in conservation at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, London, she specialises in the study of the Arts and Crafts Movement’s role during British colonialism in the Middle East and African countries.

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 Richmond’s Drawings of the Tiles

 7 Politicising the Dome of the Rock’s Tiles

 8 Geddes in Jerusalem



11 Een mozaïek



Part 3: Early Civil Rule: Hope and Estrangement 1920–1922

12 Embracing Herbert Samuel

 1 Samuel’s Visit to Palestine

 2 Richmond’s Anxieties

 3 Competing British-Zionist Archaeology

 4 Patronage from the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings

 5 Samuel’s Staging as Impartial British Ruler

 6 The “Fund for Restoration of Mosque of the Dome of the Rock at Jerusalem”



13 Ashbee’s Designs for Herbert Samuel’s Private Interior

 1 Bonding with the Samuels

 2 The Drawing Room

 3 The Dining Room

 4 The Transcultural Workshop



14 Ashbee’s Appeal to the Royal Family

 1 The Arab Delegation

 2 Aristocratic Support

 3 The Ceramic Model of the Dome of the Rock

 4 The Inscription as Message to Princess Mary

 5 The Wedding-Gown

 6 Princess Mary’s Reception of the Gifts

 7 The Supreme Muslim Council’s Special Gift



15 Work under Early Civil Rule

 1 The Ceramic Workshop’s Expulsion from the Haram

 2 George Antonius and the Education Department

 3 Alfred Mond and Arthur Holitscher in Jerusalem

 4 The Ceramic Street Signs

 5 Ashbee’s Principal Achievement

 6 Ashbee’s Main Unfulfilled Plan

 7 The Pro-Jerusalem Society in Art Criticism



Part 4: Early Mandate Rule: “the Rigid Period” 1923–1926

16 Richmond’s Entanglement with Muslim Notables

 1 The Technical Department on the Haram

 2 The Overdoor for the Office of the Supreme Muslim Council

 3 The Museum on the Haram

 4 Ashbee’s Analysis of the Role of Richmond

 5 Richmond’s Sensation of British Imperial Guilt and Departure



17 The Monograph on the Dome of the Rock

 1 Intention and Contents

 2 Publication History

 3 Distribution History

 4 Scholarly Reception



18 After the Separation

 1 Reactions to Ashbee’s Palestine Notebook

 2 The Government of Palestine Seal

 3 The Stamps of Palestine

 4 Advocacy in London

 5 The General Map of Jerusalem

 6 The Ceramic School without Ashbee

 7 The Street Signs After Ashbee

 8 The Inauguration of the Hebrew University



19 Storrs and the “Preachers of Assimilation to the Arabs”

 1 Jewish-Palestinian Identity as Seen by Weisl

 2 Competing with the Keren Kayemeth and the Keren Hayesod

 3 Reuven Rubin

 4 David Bomberg

 5 Jaacov Benor-Kalter

 6 Jacob Israël de Haan

 7 Storrs and the Palestine Architectural Association



20 Finale: Withdrawal to British Christian Institutions

 1 The Anglican Cathedral of St George

 2 The Chapel of St John

 3 The Ophthalmic Hospital of the Order of St John of Jerusalem

 4 The Pilgrimage of the Order of St John

 5 Pro-Jerusalem’s Quintessential “Post-industrialist” Architecture

 6 Storrs’ Departure



Part 5: Reflections 1927–1939

21 Ashbee’s and Richmond’s Political Positions after Leaving Palestine: Anti-Zionist Lectures and Publications

 1 “Administrators Who Hate the Mandate”

 2 Ashbee

 3 Richmond

Bibliography

Index of Names

Index of Places