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The Szyk Haggadah
Arthur Szyk (Polish, 1894–1951)
Polish
mid-20th century
1940
Medium/Technique
Bound color halftone printed reproduction after watercolor illustrations on double-vellum sheets, in three-quarter blue morocco leather and bookcloth with raised bands, gold tooling, and stamping, enclosed in three-quarter leather blue morocco leather and bookcloth clamshell box with raised bands, gold tooling, and stamping.
Dimensions
Overall (Book): 28.9 × 25.4 × 4.1 cm (11 3/8 × 10 × 1 5/8 in.)
Case: 33.3 × 29.5 × 6.4 cm (13 1/8 × 11 5/8 × 2 1/2 in.)
Case: 33.3 × 29.5 × 6.4 cm (13 1/8 × 11 5/8 × 2 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Beal Family Foundation Fund
Accession Number2024.2569
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsJudaica
ClassificationsBooks and manuscripts – Books
Catalogue Raisonné
'Arthur Szyk Preserved', edited by Irvin Ungar and Samantha Lyons, with Allison Claire Chang. (Burlingame, CA: Historicana and Lewes, UK: D Giles Limited, 2022)
DescriptionPrinted on double-vellum sheets, it features Hebrew and English calligraphic text in colored inks, and fourteen full-page illustrations, as well as embellished initials, vignettes, and border decorations. The illustrated pages and borders reproduce the original gouache watercolors Arthur Szyk made in Poland between 1934 and 1936. These were executed with a one-hair brush to render the finest details of scenes and figures. Szyk was heavily influenced by the medieval and Renaissance art of illumination, which he had studied during his training in Paris between 1921 and 1931.
Signed
Arthur Szyk and Cecil Roth
ProvenanceBetween about 1940 and 1970, possibly given by Cecil Roth (b. 1899 – d. 1970), London to Dr. Abraham I. Katsh (b. 1907 – d. 1998), New York [see note]; 1998, by inheritance to his son, Salem M. Katsh, Orient, NY; 2024, sold by Salem Katsh to the MFA. (Accession Date: TBD)
NOTE: Roth was editor of the Haggadah and a friend of Dr. Katsh.
NOTE: Roth was editor of the Haggadah and a friend of Dr. Katsh.