Print of an Arthur Szyk painting depicting a family eating a meal for Sukkot
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 8.500 inches (21.59 cm) | Width: 10.000 inches (25.4 cm)
Creator(s)
- Arthur Szyk (Subject)
- Arthur Szyk (Artist)
Biographical History
Arthur Szyk (1894-1951) was born to Jewish parents, Solomon and Eugenia Szyk in Łódź, Poland, which at the time was part of the Russian Empire. He had his first public art exhibition at age 15, and then went to Paris, France, for formal art training at the Academie Julian. He visited Palestine in 1914 with a group of Polish-Jewish artists and studied Muslim art. Upon his return, he was conscripted into the Russian Army and served in World War I. He married Julia Liekerman in 1916, and they had a son, George, in 1917. In 1918, Poland regained independence, but continued to fight a series of regional wars to secure its boundaries. Between 1919 and 1920, during Poland's war against the Soviet Bolsheviks, Syzk served as a cavalry officer and artistic director of the Department of Propaganda for the Polish Army in Łódź. In 1921, he and his family moved to Paris where his daughter, Alexandra was born the following year. Szyk was well known for his illuminations and book illustrations, in a style reminiscent of Persian miniatures. He worked on several significant projects in France, including illustrating the Statute of Kalisz, the Haggadah, and a series of watercolors on the American Revolutionary War. The themes of his most admired works, democracy and Judaism, were already well established, earning him both fame and significant commissions. In 1934, Szyk traveled to the United States for exhibitions of his work and to receive the George Washington Bicentennial Medal, awarded by the US Congress. He resided in England from 1937-1940 to supervise the publication of the Haggadah. In 1939, following Germany's invasion of Poland, he focused on producing anti-Nazi editorial cartoons published in many Western newspapers and magazines. During the German occupation of Poland, his 70 year old mother, Eugenia, and her Polish companion were forced to live in the Łódź ghetto. In 1943, they were transported to Majdanek concentration camp and killed. In late 1940, Szyk immigrated to the United States with his family. He became a leading anti-Fascist political caricaturist as well as an advocate for Jewish rescue. In addition to his widely published satirical art, Szyk devoted a great deal of time and energy to the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe, and pushed for the establishment of an independent Jewish state in Palestine. Szyk received his US citizenship in 1948. In 1951, he was investigated by the United States House Un-American Activities Committee as a suspected Communist. His son, speaking on his behalf, declared his non-affiliation with any Communist organization. Later that year, on September 13, Szyk suffered a heart attack and died at age 57.
Archival History
The print was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018 by Susan Stamberg, the daughter of Robert Levitt.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Estate of Robert Levitt
Scope and Content
Color lithographic print of a traditional Succoth meal created by Arthur Szyk in New Canaan, Connecticut. The image was originally printed in the book, Six paintings of Jewish holidays, in 1948. The print depicts a family sitting down to eat in a sukkah (temporary hut with a thatched roof that represents the huts the Israelites dwelt in after leaving Egypt), and gathering palm, myrtle, willow (lulav), and citron (etrog), which is traditionally held and shaken. The Sukkot holiday celebrates the gathering of the harvest and commemorates the protection God provided for the children of Israel when they left Egypt. Born to Jewish parents in Łódź, Poland, Szyk studied and worked on projects throughout Europe, drawing on his personal experiences when creating images. When Szyk returned to Poland, he served in the Russian Army during World War I. While serving, he became an artistic director for the Polish Department of Propaganda during the Polish–Soviet War. In 1937, Szyk moved to England to escape the increasing antisemitism and rising Nazi threat. When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Szyk began contributing illustrations and caricatures of Hitler and the Nazis to the war propaganda campaign. In 1940, he was able to immigrate to the United States, where he continued his career as an illustrator and contributed anti-Nazi cartoons to publications such as Life, Time, and Esquire. His widely published caricatures made him one of the most famous political satirists during World War II and he was considered one of the greatest modern practitioners of the art of illumination.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Restrictions on use. Copyright retained by the estate of Arthur Szyk.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Color lithographic print adhered to rectangular, discolored, off-white, heavyweight paper. The large center image depicts a family preparing to sit down inside a sukkah (wooden hut) for a meal. In the center, stands a cube-shaped sukkah with a thatched roof and an outwardly opened door. Inside is a square table covered with a white tablecloth and set with plates, cups and cutlery. Seated at the table is an older woman with a wrinkled face wearing a thick, yellow and brown coat with a tichel and a man with a short beard, wearing a white shirt and a black kippah. To the left of the sukkah, a woman is approaching the doorway through the grass, carrying a plate with a cooked fish. She wears a tichel (headscarf), a long blue skirt, and a light purple shirt. In front of her, stands a young boy and girl. The girl has blonde hair, and is wearing a yellow dress and blue socks. The boy wears a brown knee-length coat, is holding the girl’s hand and has his left arm extended toward the door. To the right of the sukkah, next to a small, green shrub, stands an older boy wearing a long blue coat and carrying a lulav, an etrog and a red pillow. Both boys wear dark colored knee-length breeches, white knee high socks, and tallits beneath their coats. In the background, behind the woman are several chickens and a house on the edge of a lush forest. The back of the paper has several small stains and water spots.
People
- Szyk, Arthur, 1894-1951.
Subjects
- Jews--Social life and customs.
- Judaism--Customs and practices.
- Willow (Sukkot)
- Jewish art and symbolism--Poland--Pictorial works.
- Łódź (Poland)
- Jewish artists--United States.
- Jews in art.
- Sukkah.
- New Canaan (Conn.)
- Four species (Sukkot)
- Sukkot.
- Etrog.
- Emigration and immigration--Poland.
- Lulav.
- Myrtle (Sukkot)
- Lithography.
Genre
- Art
- Object
- Prints.