“What makes this #exhibition and celebration of #ArthurSzyk important for 2026 — 250 years on from the #AmericanRevolution and subsequent #DeclarationofIndependence — is how he framed freedom as something to fight for. He loved #America and was granted citizenship in 1948,” said Sara Softness, the #museum’s director of curatorial affairs. “The title ‘#Art of Freedom’ has a double meaning: not only that the #artist made pictures about or featuring themes of democratic ideals, #antiFascism, and pro-pluralism, but that freedom itself is a practice, a metier, a life’s work.”

Born in #Łódź, #Poland in 1894, #Szyk experienced major upheavals of the 20th century: two world wars, the rise of #totalitarianism, and #Nazism, the founding of the State of #Israel, #McCarthyism, as well as deeply entrenched #American #racism and #antisemitism."

https://forward.com/culture/792856/arthur-szyk-museum-of-jewish-heritage/

"The show, “#Art of Freedom: The Life and Work of #ArthurSzyk” (pronounced Shik), includes dozens of #artworks that have been rarely or never displayed. The #exhibit is a major step in a growing revival following decades of obscurity after heady celebrity during #WorldWarII and ignominy, though no prosecution, during the #RedScare of the 1950s.

The exhibit also portrays a lesser-known side of the stridently #antifascist #Szyk — as an avid popularizer of the #AmericanRevolution nearly a century before Ken Burns.

“I am but a #Jew, praying in art,” Szyk wrote in a dedication to one of his most famous #illustrated works, a #Passover #Haggadah.

Sara Softness, the show’s #curator, said it aimed to portray “an #artist rooted in his #Jewish identity, but not exclusively — a person of the world..."

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/arts/design/arthur-szyk-museum-of-jewish-heritage.html