Irvin Ungar is the world’s foremost expert on the art of Arthur Szyk and the tireless force behind the Szyk renaissance. A former pulpit rabbi fluent in Jewish history and tradition, Irvin is the CEO and founder of Historicana, an antiquarian book firm and small publishing house of Szyk imprints.

Beginning in 1987, Irvin first specialized in Szyk’s remarkable illustrated books and quickly expanded his repertoire to include original art, fine art prints, and other important Szyk works.

He has curated and consulted for numerous major Szyk exhibitions, including the Library of Congress (Washington, DC, 2000), the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (Washington, DC, 2002), the Deutsches Historisches Museum (Berlin, 2008), the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (2010), the New-York Historical Society (New York City, 2017), and the Museum of Jewish Heritage (New York City, 2026).

He also served as the curator of The Arthur Szyk Society (1997-2017) and its traveling exhibition program and continues lecturing and speaking about Szyk on university campuses, museums and other venues around the world. Additionally, Irvin is the co-producer of the documentary film, “Soldier in Art: Arthur Szyk.”

Irvin’s memoir Reviving the Artist Who Fought Hitler: My Life with Arthur Szyk was published by University of Texas Press, June 2026. His work Arthur Szyk: Soldier in Art (2017) won the National Jewish Book Award. Other publications include Arthur Szyk Preserved: Institutional Collections of Original Art (2023); the luxury limited edition of The Szyk Haggadah (2008) and Freedom Illuminated: Understanding the Szyk Haggadah (2008). His first book Justice Illuminated: The Art of Arthur Szyk was published in 1998.