Helping preserve art of freedom

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Aug 17, 2005 | by Christine Morente, STAFF WRITER

Irvin Ungar is bringing Arthur Szyk's art back into the mainstream. Curator of the Burlingame-based Arthur Szyk Society, Ungar is educating the public on the man once called an "artist for freedom."

Szyk, who died in 1951 at age 57, attacked the Nazis and the Axis powers through his art during World War II. The exhibit, "Justice Illuminated: The Art of Arthur Szyk" is traveling through Poland, and Ungar is working to bring the exhibit to the Bay Area next year. Ungar recently spoke to staff writer Christine Morente.

Q: Who is Arthur Szyk?

A: He was born in 1894 in Lodz, Poland. Szyk, who was Jewish, became prominent as an "artist for freedom" here in America, moving here in 1940. Many people considered him the greatest illuminator in the past 400 years, working in a technique of 16th century miniaturist painters who illuminated text.

His art deals with fighting against oppression and tyrrany, fighting for individual liberties and freedoms. He used his art not only to be an advocate for the Jewish people -- his own people -- but also he was an advocate for humanity at large.

A lot of his exhibitions in New York helped people other than his own, because he believed that whoever you are, whatever your faith is, whatever your tradition is, whatever your nationality is, you should work with the best ideals of your own people to be an advocate for humanity at large.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, it was Szyk's art on the front cover of Time Magazine. When Roosevelt gave his "Four Freedoms" speech, it was Arthur Szyk's art that was hanging in the White House. Arthur Szyk's art was on the front covers of Collier's Magazine regularly. He was really out there in the forefront.

Q: How did you discover Mr. Szyk?

A: When my wife and I were looking for gifts for people in our wedding party, I went to abookstore and saw these beautiful books where the colors just jumped out at me. The book was called the Passover Haggadah, and this is a book that Jews used for the Jewish holiday of Passover. I didn't think of Arthur Szyk for the next 13 years. During that time, I was a rabbi. In 1987, when I left the act of rabbi, I went into the rare-book business. A few years after I started the business, I went into an antique shop in Pittsburgh, Pa., and saw some prints in a box. The colors jumped at me, and I recognized them as being from the same artist, Arthur Szyk. I bought the box of prints. That led me to another book of his, on political art.

I realized that his sense of values was closest to mine in terms of caring about Jewish people, but also realizing that one has to sort of look at your own value system and try to figure how to benefit society at large, not just your own desires.

Q: Why was he forgotten?

A: When he died, I think that there were no dealers, and the family had dismissed many dealers. He didn't have anyone to keep his art in the public eye commercially. After World War II, there was a change in the art world. There was more of an attraction to modern art.

Realism, in terms of Szyk's art, depicting the realities of war was not a popular art form. Also, who would be drawn to medieval manuscript?

Also, at the end of his life, even though he became a U.S. citizen, he was called a citizen-soldier of the free world by the American military. He was friends with Eleanor Roosevelt and illuminated the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. Even so, he was investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Q: Was he blacklisted?

A: He was listed on six or seven subversive committees. His apartment in New York City, and his home later in Connecticut, were always filled with political people coming and going. He was vice chairman of numerous organizations, but not in Communist organizations. We don't even know who's responsible for his name being part of a list.

I have a dream someday that there will be a Szyk center. That people would be able to come see his work on display, where scholars, art historians or advocates for social change or social justice ... can use the library of materials surrounding Szyk, and they can begin to use it in their own work. We are very interested in seeing Szyk's art integrated into school curricula. A Szyk center can provide the resources for people to be able to take Szyk's art and use it in whatever fits for them in some educational, meaningful passion.

Q: Would you consider Arthur Szyk your hero?

A: Yes, no question about it. I love speaking about him. I see Arthur Szyk as a bridge, a link between countries ... and that he served as a bridge between different religions. But I also see him as a bridge between the common person and the elite of society. Szyk was a fighting artist. His pen was his sword, his brush was his ally and his fight was for America.

Staff writer Christine Morente covers Burlingame, Millbrae, San Bruno and Hillsborough. She can be reached at (650) 348-4333 or at cmorente@sanmateocountytimes.com.