The Statute of Kalisz

The Statute of Kalisz. A Mint Copy. Provenance: The Bruckmann Verlag house copy. With the original letter from Bibliotheque-Nationale to the publisher, later to be issued in the Statute of Kalisz prospectus Richly Illustrated by Szyk and displaying extraordinarily high production values, The Statute of Kalisz is perhaps Szyk’s most significant work. He considered it a glorification of Polish-Jewish tolerance and benevolence, and a model for all truly democratic societies. "If The Haggadah is viewed as Szyk’s most famous work, surely his Statute of Kalisz is his single most important historic work. Reflecting the highest form of medieval manuscript illumination, this portfolio often has been called “The Jewish Magna Carta." With the affirmation of civil and religious liberties and freedoms for Jews by the Grand Duke of Poland, Boleslav the Pious, in 1264, the Golden Age of Polish Jewry was initiated. In this work, Szyk illuminates the mutually beneficial relationship that flourished between Poles and Jews for hundreds of years." I. Ungar, Justice Illuminated: The Art of Arthur Szyk (1998) p.15. “J.P. Roland-Marcel called the illumination of the Statute of Kalisz Szyk’s masterpiece and claimed that it placed him on the same level as the best illuminators of the sixteenth century.” See J.P. Ansell, Arthur Szyk pp. 51-61. See also J. P. Ansell, Art against Prejudice: Arthur Szyk's Statute of Kalisz, in: Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts (1989) pp. 46-6