Arthur Szyk ( , see Polish phonology; June 3, 1894 – September 13, 1951) was a Polish-born American Jewish artist who did book illustration and political art throughout his career. Arthur Szyk was born into a prosperous middle-class Jewish family in Łódź,Ansell, Joseph P. Arthur Szyk: Artist, Jew, Pole. Oxford: The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2004. p. 5 in the part of Poland under Russian rule in the 19th century. An acculturated Polish Jew, Szyk always proudly regarded himself both as a Pole and a Jew.Ansell, p. 7 From 1921, he lived and created his works mainly in France and Poland; in 1937 he moved to the United Kingdom. In 1940, he settled permanently in the United States, and was granted American citizenship in 1948.
Arthur Szyk became a renowned artist and book illustrator as early as the interwar period. His works were exhibited and published in Poland and France, the United Kingdom, Israel and the United States. However, he gained broad popularity in the United States primarily through his political caricatures, in which, after the outbreak of World War II, he savaged the policies and personalities of the leaders of the Axis powers. After the war, he also devoted himself to Zionist political issues, especially the support of the creation of the state of Israel.
Szyk's work is characterized in its material content by social and political commitment, and in its formal aspect by its rejection of modernism and embrace of the traditions of medieval and renaissance painting, especially illuminated manuscripts from those periods.
Background and youth Arthur Szyk,The artist's birth name was Artur Szyk, but in Western Europe and the United States he is commonly known as Arthur Szyk, which is also how he usually signed his works. the son of Solomon Szyk and his wife Eugenia, was born in Łódź, in the Piotrków Governorate of Congress Poland, on June 3, 1894. Solomon Szyk was a textile factory director, a quiet occupation until June 1905, when, during the so-called Łódź insurrection, one of his workers threw acid in his face, permanently blinding him.
Szyk showed artistic talent as a child; when he was six, he reportedly drew sketches of the Boxer Rebellion in China.Current Biography, New York, 1946, p. 588. Even though his family was culturally assimilated and did not practice Orthodox Judaism, Arthur also liked drawing biblical scenes from the Hebrew Bible. These interests and talents prompted his father, upon the advice of Szyk's teachers, to send Szyk to Paris to study at Académie Julian, a studio school popular among French and foreign students. In Paris, Szyk was exposed to all modern trends in art; however, he decided to follow his way, which hewed closely to tradition. He was especially attracted by the medieval art of illuminating manuscripts, which greatly influenced his later works. When studying in Paris, Szyk remained closely involved with the social and civic life of Łódź. During the years 1912–1914 the teenage artist produced numerous drawings and caricatures on contemporary political themes that were published in the Łódź satirical magazine Śmiech ("Laughter").
After four years in France, Szyk returned to Poland in 1913 and continued his studies in Teodor Axentowicz's class at Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, which was under Austrian rule at that time. He not only attended lectures and classes, but he also actively participated in Kraków's cultural life. He did not forget his home city Łódź – he designed the stage sets and costumes for the Łódź-based Bi Ba Bo cabaret. The political and national engagement of the artist also deepened during that time – Szyk regarded himself as a Polish patriot but he was also proud of being Jewish and he often opposed antisemitism in his works. At the beginning of 1914, Szyk in a group with other Polish-Jewish artists and writers set off on a journey to Palestine, organized by the Jewish Cultural Society Hazamir (Hebrew: nightingale). There he observed the efforts of Jewish settlers working for the benefit of the future Jewish state.Irvin Ungar : Arthur Szyk : Soldier in Art, in: Arthur Szyk : Drawing against National Socialism and Terror, German Historical Museum, Berlin, 2008, pp. 12-15.
The visit was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I. Szyk, who was a Russian subject, had to leave Palestine, which was part of the Ottoman Empire at that time, and go back to his home country in August 1914. He was conscripted into the Imperial Russian army and fought at the battle of Łódź in November/December 1914, but at the beginning of 1915, he managed to escape from the army and spent the rest of the war in his home city. He also used the time spent in the Imperial Russian army to draw Russian soldiers and published these drawings as postcards in the same year (1915).Arthur Szyk : Drawing against National Socialism and Terror, German Historical Museum, Berlin, 2008, pp. 74-75. On September 14, 1916, Arthur Szyk married Julia Likerman. Their son George was born in the following year, and their daughter Alexandra in 1922.
Between the wars
In the Second Polish Republic
After Poland had regained independence in 1918, Szyk fully developed his artistic activity, combining it with political engagement. In 1919, influenced by the events of the German Revolution of 1918–19, he published, together with poet Julian Tuwim, his first book of political illustrations: Rewolucja w Niemczech (Revolution in Germany), which was a satire on the Germans, who need the Kaiser's and the military's consent even to start a revolution.Arthur Szyk : Drawing..., pp. 72-73. In the same year, Szyk had to take part in warfare again – during the Polish–Soviet War (1919–1920), in which he served as a Polish cavalry officer and as the artistic director of the propaganda department of the Polish army in Łódź.I. Ungar, op. cit., pp. 15-16.Arthur Szyk : Drawing..., pp. 76-77.
In France In 1921 Arthur Szyk and his family moved to Paris where they stayed until 1933. The relocation to Paris is marked by a breakthrough in the formal aspect of Szyk's works. While Szyk's prior book illustrations were drawings in pen and ink (Szyk had illustrated six books before 1925, including three published in the Yiddish language), the illustrations for the books published in Paris were full colour and full of detail. The first book illustrated in this way was the Book of Esther (Le livre d'Esther, 1925), followed by Gustave Flaubert's dialogue The Temptation of Saint Anthony (La tentation de Saint Antoine, 1926), Pierre Benoît's novel Jacob's Well (Le puits de Jacob, 1927) and other books. Those illustrations, which are characterized by a rich diversity of colours and detailed presentation, deliberately referred to the medieval and renaissance traditions of illumination of manuscripts, often with interspersed contemporary elements. Szyk drew himself as one of the characters in the Book of Esther.. The only stylistic exception is illustrations to the two volume collection of humorous anecdotes about Jews Le juif qui rit (1926/27), in which the artist returned to simple black and white graphics. (Paradoxically, the book, one of the best known of his works, met with criticism as repeating antisemitic stereotypes.) The artist's reputation was also enhanced by exhibitions which were organized by Galeries Auguste Decour (the art gallery first exhibited Szyk's works in 1922). Szyk's drawings were purchased by the Minister of Education and Fine Arts Anatole de Monzie and the New York businessman Harry Glemby.I. Ungar, op. cit. , pp. 16-18.
Szyk had many opportunities to travel for his art. In 1922, he spent seven weeks in Morocco, then a protectorate of France, where he drew the portrait of the pasha of Marrakesh – as a goodwill ambassador he received the Ordre des Palmes Académiques from the French government for this work. In 1931 he was invited to the seat of the League of Nations in Geneva, where he began illustrating the statute of the League. The artist made some of the pages of the statute but did not complete that work as a result of his disappointment with the policies of the organization in the 1930s.Arthur Szyk : Drawing..., pp. 90-91.
Statute of Kalisz and Washington and his Times During his stay in France, Szyk maintained his ties with Poland. He often visited his home country, illustrated books, and exhibited his works there. During the second half of the 1920s, he mainly illustrated the Statute of Kalisz, a charter of liberties which were granted to the Jews by Bolesław the Pious, the Duke of Kalisz, in 1264.Ansell, Joseph P. "Art against Prejudice: Arthur Szyk's Statute of Kalisz." The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts 14 (1989): 47-63. doi:10.2307/1504027. In the years 1926–1928, he created a rich graphic setting of the 45-page-long Statute, showing the contribution of the Jews to Polish society; for example their participation in Poland's pro-independence struggle, during the January Uprising of 1863, and in the Polish Legions in World War I commanded by Józef Piłsudski, to whom Szyk also dedicated his work. The Statute of Kalisz was published in book form in Munich in 1932, but it gained popularity even earlier. Postcards with reproductions of Szyk's illustrations were published in Kraków around 1927. The original art was shown at exhibitions in Warsaw, Łódź and Kalisz in 1929, and a "Traveling Exhibition of Artur Szyk's Works" was held in 1932–1933, displaying the Statute at exhibitions in 14 Polish towns and cities. In recognition of his work, Arthur Szyk was decorated with the Gold Cross of Merit by the Polish government.I. Ungar, op. cit., pp. 18-19.The original paintings for the Statute are now in the Jewish Museum in New York City.
Another great historical series Szyk created was Washington and his Times, which he began in Paris in 1930. The series, which included 38 watercolours, depicted the events of the American Revolutionary War and was a tribute to the first president of the United States and the American nation in general. The series was presented at an exhibition at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., in 1934. It brought another decoration to Szyk – this time the George Washington Bicentennial Medal from the American government.I. Ungar, op. cit. , pp. 19-20.Washington and his Times was published in book form in Vienna in 1932. The originals of the watercolours were presented by the President of Poland Ignacy Mościcki to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935. They are now stored at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, New York.
The Haggadah and moving to London.
Szyk's art became even more politically engaged when Adolf Hitler took power in Germany in 1933. Szyk started drawing caricatures of Germany's Führer as early as 1933; probably the first was a pencil drawing of Hitler dressed as an ancient Egyptian pharaoh.Arthur Szyk : Drawing..., pp. 100-101. These drawings anticipated another great series of Szyk's drawings – the Haggadah, which is considered his magnum opus. The Haggadah is a very important and popular story in Jewish culture and religion about the Exodus or departure of the Israelites from ancient Egypt, which is read every year during the Passover Seder. Szyk illustrated the Haggadah in 48 miniature paintings in the years 1934–1936. The antisemitic politics in Germany led Szyk to introduce some contemporary elements to it. For example, he painted the Jewish parable of the Four Sons, in which the "wicked son" was portrayed as a man wearing German clothes, with a Hitler-like moustache and a green Alpine hat. The political intent of the series was even stronger in its original version: he painted upon the red snakes the swastika, the symbol of the Third Reich.