Le Livre Esther - Megilath Esther. <<De-luxe binding.>>
Auction 94 |
Thursday, June 17th,
2021 at 11:00am
Rare & Excellent Hebrew Printed Books: From the Library of Arthur A. Marx
Lot 500
SZYK, ARTHUR.
Le Livre Esther - Megilath Esther. <<De-luxe binding.>>
Paris: H. Piazza 1926
Est: $1,500 - $2,000
Arthur Szyk's vibrant illustrations depict the story of Purim in an Assyrian context, consistant with contemporary Parisan art forms which had been inspired by the “exotica of Persia, the Near East and Russia.” See I. Ungar, Justice Illuminated: The Art of Arthur Szyk (1998) p.74.
J. P. Ansell notes that as with so many of Szyk's works, Le Livre D'Esther is a “political statement on anti-Semitism: In the story, the beautiful Queen Esther saves her co-religionists from persecution by a government official; for Szyk and his contemporaries, the story was an allegorical commentary on the state of relgious freedom in Poland.” See Ansell, Arthur Szyk: Artist, Jew, Pole (2004) pp. 33-37.