Worldwide Acclaim
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“In his dexterity Szyk recalls a bygone age of monastic scribes slaving over parchment pages. [His] illustrations are more intricate than Swiss watch works and sublimely obsessive. Reproductions hardly do the original drawings justice.”
— Michael Kimmelman
The New York Times -
“Arthur Szyk’s drawings are evidence of an exceptional mastery of crafts and of artistic inspiration.”
— Katja Widmann and Johannes Zechner
Curators, Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, 2008 -
“To call Arthur Szyk the greatest illuminator since the sixteenth century is no flattery. It is the simple truth which becomes manifest to any person who studies his work with the care which it deserves.”
— Cecil Roth
Historian, London, 1940s -
“[Szyk] makes not only cartoons, but beautiful composed pictures which suggest, in their curiously decorative quality, the inspired illuminations of the early religious manuscripts.”
— Thomas Craven
Art Critic, New York, 1940s
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About Szyk’s Art
Overview
Viewing Szyk’s illuminations for the first time sparks many questions. What subjects did he paint? How did he achieve such brilliant colors and fine detail? Where has his work been shown? What do the critics think?
Briefly, Szyk was an activist-artist who tackled a broad range of subject matter in his campaign
for racial and religious tolerance and universal human dignity. Though his work frequently dealt
with the events of the day, he intended his work to be timeless—he saw no division between
applied art and fine art.
Szyk mastered illumination—an artistic style that had been forgotten for centuries—and updated the technique and style to meet the demands of a new era. The world’s finest galleries and museums, from Paris to London to New York and beyond, recognize his genius and stage major exhibitions of his work to this day. Szyk continues to astonish art critics and art historians, who proclaim him not only an outstanding artist of the 20th century but the best illuminator in 400 years.
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