Arthur Szyk ; June 3, 1894 – September 13, 1951) was a Polish-born Jewish artist who worked primarily as a book illustrator and political artist throughout his career. Arthur Szyk was born into a prosperous middle-class Jewish family in Łódź, in the part of Poland under Russian rule in the 19th century. An acculturated Polish Jew, Szyk always proudly regarded himself both as a Pole and a Jew. From 1921, he lived and created his works mainly in France and Poland; in 1937 he moved to the United Kingdom. In 1940, he settled permanently in the United States, and was granted American citizenship in 1948.
Szyk, circa 1945
Portrait of Julia Szyk. Paris, 1926.
In this image from the 1919 book Rewolucja w Niemczech (Revolution in Germany), a Valkyrie-like figure stands on a globe stamped with the Iron Cross (Eisernes Kreuz).
David and Saul (1921), Łódź, Poland.
The General Charter of Jewish rights known as the Statute of Kalisz, and the Kalisz Privilege, granted Jews in the Middle Ages special protection against discrimination in Poland when they were being persecuted in Western Europe. These rights included exclusive jurisdiction over Jewish matters to Jewish courts, and established a separate tribunal for other criminal matters involving Christians and Jews designed to avoid Jewish discrimination. It led to the formation of a separate court and safety for persecuted Jews which attracted Jewish immigrants from across Europe to Poland.
Statute of Kalisz frontispiece, by Arthur Szyk (1927)
Bolesław the Pious from the Piast dynasty, who issued the Statute of Kalisz
Jewish Craftsmen and Tradesmen (1927)
English-language page (1927)