The
Haggadah BY Arthur Szyk
 Arthur
Szyk
(1894-1951)
is considered by
scholars to have been
the greatest
twentieth-century
illuminator working in
the style of the
sixteenth-century
miniaturist painters,
and the leading
political caricaturist
in America during World
War II. His Haggadah was
described by the Times
of London as "worthy to
be placed among the most
beautiful of books that
the hand of man has
produced." Arthur Szyk
is undoubtedly one of
the most remarkable and
talented artists of
modern times.
 The
last few years have seen
a growing interest in
Arthur Szyk (pronounced
"Shick"). While many
remember him from their
youth by marveling at
his illustrated
Andersen's Fairy Tales
and
Pathways Through the
Bible, others may
recall his poignant
World.
War II caricatures and
cartoons on the front
covers of many of
America's leading
magazines (Collier's,
Time, Esquire). His
graphic political
editorials lampooned the
Nazi and Axis leaders
with brilliant parodies
seething with mockery
and scorn. Some remember
seeing his works
exhibited at the 1939
World's Fair, others
have viewed them on
display at The White
House or in The FDR
Library at Hyde Park.
Recognized and decorated
by numerous governments
both on a local and
national level, Szyk's
reputation is
international. His
books, the
Haggadah, Andersen's
Fairy Tales, and
The Ten Commandments
continue to be
reprinted. Museum
exhibits are being held
and the illustrated
book, Justice
Illuminated:
The Art of Arthur Szyk,
has been recently
published.
The four
figures [shown above] epitomize the
Jewish cultural and class struggles in
inter-war Poland. The wise figure is a
delicate, intelligent yeshiva bochur
(unmarried student), dressed traditionally
yet meticulously. His body language
expresses the grace and modesty of the
Torah student, ideally understood as an
intellectual and religious aristocrat.
In contrast, the wicked figure is a
middle-aged bourgeois Jew dressed to
show off his aspirations to Western
European modernity.
 While
the wise student has no props, not even
a book, the wicked figure sports a
riding crop, a cigarette with cigarette
holder, and a stylish monocle. He is
dressed in a hunting outfit with a
jaunty Tyrollian hat with a feather, an
ascot around his neck, silk gloves and
sharp spurs on his leather boots. His
stance is self-confident, self-contained
and arrogant in contrast to the
simpleton who is fat and smiling,
opening himself to the world trustingly
with arms and legs spread out.
While the simpleton is still traditionally
dressed with a small tallis, the one who
does not even know how to ask is a
worker dressed poorly, wearing
proletarian boots, without any visible
link to Jewish tradition. His contemplative expression
suggests that his direction in life is not
yet determined.
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