History Bites | Arthur Szyk: From Yiddishkeit Illuminator to Yankee Satirist

How did a newly landed Polish Jewish artist transform his brush and ink pen into powerful anti-Nazi propaganda weapons in the months before Pearl Harbor? This fall, the Fairfield University Art Museum presents a special exhibition “Arthur Szyk: Artist and Soldier for Human Rights” (on view September 29-December 16, 2023). Through scathing editorial cartoons and anti-fascist satires, Szyk came to be recognized by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt as a true “soldier in art.” Dr. Philip I. Eliasoph, Professor of Art History, offers an overview of this acclaimed exhibit traveling on loan from the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art & Life at the University of California at Berkeley.

Free with Museum Admission. Snacks and refreshments provided. Please feel free to bring your own lunch.

About the Speaker

Philip I. Eliasoph, founder of the Art History program at Fairfield University and a Professor of Art History, serves as Special Assistant to the President for Arts and Culture and engages the “life of the mind” for students and community as moderator of the Quick Center’s Open Visions Forum public affairs programs. His pioneering doctoral study on American egg tempera master Paul Cadmus (1904-1999) has revived interest in the reclusive, academically spirited American painters of the “Magic Realist” circle. He corresponds as the faculty curator for the New York Times In Education global blog platform focusing on art museums, legal ethics, and critical trending in the visual arts. As a journeyman art critic he is an elected member of UNESCO’s Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art, producing over 1,000 published articles in art journals, magazines, and regional newspapers.

Image: The Haggadah, Dedication to King George VI (detail) by Arthur Szyk, 1936.