Why an artist famous for illustrating the Haggadah is more relevant than ever
Through his work, Arthur Szyk fought against fascism and bigotry
Arthur Szyk
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Culture The World of Arthur Szyk
In his 1944 self-portrait, “Ink and Blood,” Polish-Jewish artist and illustrator Arthur Szyk, who immigrated to the United States after Nazi Germany invaded his homeland, depicts himself hunched diligently over an elegant working desk, hard at work on a new painting. Its subject, who has come partially to life but remains pinned to the paper…
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Opinion Arthur Szyk’s Anti-Fascist Imagery Deserves Another Look
Through the stroke of a brush, artists have the power to promote understanding and influence public opinion. In an age when images and text bombard us from every corner, we too often devalue the cultural and political importance of art and its ability to bring people together. As Americans sought to understand the rise of…
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Fast Forward Berkeley Gets Biggest Art Grant Ever To Buy This Jewish Artist’s Paintings
(JTA) — The University of California, Berkeley, received its biggest art grant ever to acquire the world’s largest collection by the Jewish-Polish artist Arthur Szyk and display it in a public institution for the first time. The $10.1 million gift from the Taube Philanthropies will be used to acquire 450 artworks — including paintings, drawings and sketches — according to a statement. The…
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Culture Major Arthur Szyk Collection Given To University Of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley’s Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life is about to become home to a major collection of the works and personal papers of Arthur Szyk, thanks to a gift from the Bay Area-based Taube Philanthropies. Szyk, who was born to a Jewish family in Łódź, Poland in 1894, was a…
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Culture The Most Beautiful Haggadah in the Room
Tens of thousands of copies of “The Szyk Haggadah” have been read at Passover Seders around the world; but the original pages of the book, hand-lettered and hand-painted in the 1930s, have not been shown in public for 60 years. Now all 48 watercolors and gouaches created by a brilliant Polish-born illustrator can be seen…
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The Schmooze Slideshow: The Pen That Satirized the Sword
To see the splendid new exhibit of caricatures and miniature drawings by Polish-born Jewish illustrator Arthur Szyk (1894-1951), on view until March 27 at San Francisco’s Legion of Honor, you first have to walk through several galleries of religious paintings devoted to Christian saints, Madonnas with child, and Christ on the cross. Szyk’s pictures also…
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The Schmooze Arthur Szyk: A ‘Master Illuminator’ Illuminated
I spent a couple of informative hours last Tuesday evening at “Methods of a Master Illuminator,” a new exhibit of Arthur Szyk’s art showing at the Broome Street Gallery through April 25. Irv Ungar, a dealer and foremost expert on Szyk’s work, and co-curator Allison Chang, have assembled an impressive collection of original art, prints,…
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