On Monday, November 16 at 5 pm Eastern Time (U.S.), Irvin Unger will be our guest for a Casual Conversation. Irvin Unger is, a rabbi who gave up a pulpit and became an antiquarian bookseller and the world’s expert on Arthur Szyk, a man who fought Hitler, Imperial Japan, and Mussolini through his art.
This then is about two men and the passionate work that Rabbi Unger has undertaken to return Arthur Szyk to public awareness. Irvin’s book describing both Szyk life and art and Irvin’s own journey is Reviving the Artist Who Fought Hitler (University of Texas Press 2026). Here is Rabbi Unger’s cv: https://www.szyk.com/irvin-ungar/curriculum-vitae/ .
A review by Kirkus reflects the dual nature of Irvin’s book:
“Arthur Szyk (1894-1951) was a Polish-born artist who made his name lavishly illustrating Jewish books while also producing powerful anti-Nazi art for the Allied cause. Szyk’s work synthesized the traditions of manuscript illumination, modernist abstraction, and political caricature to realize an unmistakably unique vision. Since his death, his work has largely fallen from attention. Ungar’s mission—the author is an antiquarian bookseller and former pulpit rabbi—is to restore Szyk’s reputation, to circulate his artwork for the general public, and to make the case for his place in the canons of great figural painting. Ungar writes, ‘Believing as I do in the importance of Szyk’s messages and the genius of his art, I know he deserves to belong among the well-known and popularly recognized artists and among the pantheon of great artists.’ The author chronicles his first encounters with Szyk’s work, his inquiries into the circulation of his public art, and his building of the artist’s reputation through lecturing, publishing, and curation. Lavishly illustrated with full-color reproductions of the work—ranging from a Passover Haggadah through portraits of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, political cartoons, and allegories of American freedom—the book shows us the man who sought to be a ‘soldier in art’ in the fight against fascism. A self-portrait by Szyk shows the artist ‘sitting at his desk, pinning Hitler to the table with his pen while the Führer is trying to pull away.’ A brilliant draughtsman with an eye for face and form, Szyk emerges like a Jewish Norman Rockwell. This is a book of passion whose real theme is the place of art in social and political resistance and, moreover, the place of the artist in the author’s own story of finding his purpose in a life of Jewish learning."
“A passionate journey of one man’s love of Jewish art as the steward of Arthur Szyk’s legacy.”
A Jewish Norman Rockwell indeed, or simply an illustrator who stands toe-to-toe with Rockwell. Many of you know of Rockwell’s Four Freedoms. Of course, you do: https://labelleepoque.com/product/complete-set-of-four-freedoms-posters-by-norman-rockwell-1943/ . But it might be just as appropriate to describe Norman Rockwell as a non-Jewish Arthur Szyk, for Szyk produced as striking a Four Freedoms, which you have probably never heard of: https://www.printmag.com/daily-heller/the-daily-heller-arthur-szyk-and-fdrs-four-freedoms-revisited/ . I didn’t know of it before I spoke with Irvin, and now I own a fine quality reproduction of the set (offered by Irvin on his website www.szyk.com ), framed and hanging on our wall. See https://www.szyk.com/arthur-szyk-four-freedoms/ .
But why Szyk and why now? First, Szyk was an accomplished artist with a style that was his alone, and who reminds me in his detail and bold use of color of the illustrators of medieval manuscripts, filling to overflow every part of the space. Szyk, the Pieter Bruegel the Elder of our times.
Second, he comes from an era when illustrators were an important channel of communication to Americans, and the world. In addition to Norman Rockwell, we had a heyday of political cartoonists, from Thomas Nast to Herblock, and bold sketch artists like Al Hirschfeld and the unabashed New Yorker and political polemicist Don Freeman, each telling a story in his own way with pen, ink, and, for a select few like Szyk and Rockwell, hues.
Third, Szyk stands uniquely in the richness of his work. Take a look at his illustrations and spend time and more time, finding with each examination some new detail, a new allusion. For example, look at some of his illustrations reproduced in the essay, https://jweekly.com/2020/03/03/new-magnes-exhibit-soldier-in-art-arthur-szyk-blasted-tyranny-in-stunning-works-of-graphic-art/ , including his striking attack on racism “Do not forgive them, oh Lord, for they do know what they do! (after Luke 23:34)”, and his illustration of the uprising of the Warsaw Ghetto, (“My People. Samson in the Ghetto”), which is both inspiring and heartbreaking.
There was a time when the Bar Mitzvah gift of choice was Szyk’s Haggadah. Some of you may still have yours. I received mine more than 65 years ago and it has been in use ever since, with wine stains to prove it. You can buy one today, and Irvin has created multiple editions, including one that is specially accessible to tell the story of the Exodus.
Finally, we had a Casual Conversation about screenwriter and Jewish activist Ben Hecht, another man and artist who used his singular talents to wage war against Hitler. It is no accident that Hecht and Szyk collaborated on a project.
Come and find out more.
Let me know if you want to be a part of this Casual Conversation on next Monday, November 16 at 5 pm Eastern, by emailing me by this coming weekend at arthur.fergenson@ansalaw.com .
Arthur Fergenson