Photos from Szyk exhibition: Part I

Hello, Szyk fans! The Society has been doing our best to keep up with media coverage of the DHM exhibition, "Arthur Szyk - Drawing Against National Socialism and Terror." Blogs around the world are linking to the NY Times and International Herald Tribune articles, and several even offer original content such as personal photos and reflections on the artwork.

One of our favorite blog posts so far is by photographer Detlev Schilke, who was at the Deutsches Historisches Museum on the evening of August 28, 2008. He maintains The Eye Catcher blog, and his post about the Szyk exhibition opening includes several spectacular images of viewers getting up close and personal with the artwork. You'll see that many visitors took full advantage of the magnifying glasses that the DHM curators attached next to some of Szyk's most detailed pieces.

Now, for some Berlin photos direct from The Society:


Here are the two wonderful DHM curators, Johannes Zechner and Katja Widmann. We were privileged to spend several days with them in Berlin and get a behind-the-scenes look at how the exhibition came together.


Before building the Szyk exhibition on the second floor of the I.M. Pei exhibitions hall, the DHM created a scale model.


Arthur Szyk's daughter Alexandra Szyk Bracie came all the way to Berlin from Florida to witness the exhibition. She and Society Curator Irvin Ungar pose in front of one the many gorgeous Szyk banners displayed through the DHM.

More to come!

Szyk in Hadassah Magazine

So the media coverage is still rolling! Toby Axelrod, a journalist based in Berlin (or so we understand), spoke with Society Curator Irvin Ungar about the exhibition several weeks before it opened to get more background on Szyk as an artist and activist. She met us at the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin for Irvin's lecture ("Arthur Szyk: Soldier in Art") on August 27 and then for the press conference and opening on August 28.

Her enthusiasm for the exhibition and Szyk's art really comes through in the feature article she wrote for the October 2008 issue of Hadassah Magazine. It's an 8-page spread with several color images - grab a copy if you can, since this isn't even online yet.

Szyk Berlin exhibition in the press!

The Society just returned from a wonderful trip to Berlin to see the new Arthur Szyk exhibition at the Deutsches Historisches Museum. Check out the exhibition online - it does a wonderful job recreating the experience.

More details will follow, but, in the meantime, please enjoy some of the latest and greatest press coverage:

The New York Times, "A Caricaturist, but No Funny Stuff Here", Michael Kimmelman, September 8, 2008

International Herald Tribune, "Arthur Szyk's cartoons and a reckoning with history", Michael Kimmelman, September 10, 2008

Spiegel-TV (television branch of the German-language publication Der Spiegel, Europe's largest weekly newsmagazine), "Hitler-Karikaturen: Bilder gegen NS-Terror"

Deutschlandradio Kultur podcast, "Arthur Szyk - Bilder gegen National Socialismus and Terror"

#1 Anti-Nazi Artist's First-Ever German Exhibition

Watch the news, because Arthur Szyk will be enjoying international attention in the next two months! The Society has been working closely alongside the phenomenal staff of the Deutsches Historisches [German Historical] Museum (DHM) in Berlin, Germany, to prepare the major solo exhibition, “Arthur Szyk – Drawing Against National Socialism and Terror”, which opens August 29, 2008. The exhibition will focus on Szyk’s unflinching artwork created during World War II, of which The German “Authority” in Poland from 1939 (see above) is an outstanding example.

Considering that Szyk often skewered the German people and their leaders in his work, it is commendable that Germany is eager to exhibit it. Can you think of another major exhibition in recent memory where the host country is willing to risk that sort of exposure?