This presentation lays the groundwork for appreciation of Arthur Szy's masterwork, evaluating the historical development of his Passover Haggadah and its carefully constructed miniatures. Drawn and first published during the rise of Hitler, The Haggadah is a triumphant work of courage and hope, its style and themes remarkably prescient and enduringly relevant. A Polish Jew keenly aware of current events, Arthur Szyk fused his two passions—art and history—into a visual commentary on the dangerous parallel between the Exodus narrative of Egyptian oppression and alarming developments unfolding in Nazi Germany. Copies of the new Deluxe and Premier editions of The Szyk Haggadah will be displayed.

Irvin Ungar, a former pulpit rabbi and antiquarian bookseller, has devoted the past quarter-century to scholarship on Arthur Szyk. He has curated and consulted for numerous Szyk exhibitions, including the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Deutsches Historisches Museum (Berlin), the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Library of Congress, and the New York Historical Society. Ungar is the author of Arthur Szyk: Soldier in Art (winner of the 2017 National Jewish Book Award), co-producer of the documentary film, Soldier in Art: Arthur Szyk, and the creator and publisher of the luxury limited edition of The Szyk Haggadah. He has also served as the curator of The Arthur Szyk Society in Burlingame, California.

Arthur Szyk (born Lodz, Poland, 1894; died New Canaan, CT, 1951) worked in Poland, France, England, Canada and the United States, and was renowned during the first half of the twentieth century for his prolific illustrations in books, newspapers and magazines. His work provides a visual and often acerbic comment on contemporary issues, including World War II, the Holocaust and the creation of the state of Israel. Szyk's canon includes his famous illuminated Passover Haggadah, which has been widely distributed in both the US and Israel.