Lot 145

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Description:

Arthur Szyk Signed Original Drawing Depicting Japanese "Expert in Chivalry" Condemning Eisenhower's Operation Torch Maneuvers

An original pen and pencil drawing on paper by Polish-Jewish artist Arthur Szyk (1894-1952), ca. 1942, entitled "The Expert in Chivalry: Eisenhower is Not a Gentleman…" Signed and inscribed by the illustrator as "Arthur Szyk / N.Y. / 42" at lower right, with the work title running along the bottom edge. Expected wear including a few minor surface abrasions found at left not affecting the image, else near fine. Matted and framed behind glass in an ebonized frame. Not examined out of the frame. Bearing a label verso reading in part, "Courtesy of Mrs. Alexandra Bracie," the artist's daughter. The sight size of the drawing is 5.5" x 7.5" while the overall framed size is 12.25" x 15.25" x .5." Provenance: Consigned directly from Arthur Szyk's family.

Szyk's original pencil drawing has been meticulously outlined and expertly cross-hatched in pen. The cartoon depicts a Japanese archetype--a racial stereotype-- pointing disdainfully at a bulletin headlined "U.S. Army / In North Africa / Gen. Eisenhower / Appeals to the French." Though the soldier is wearing a Japanese military uniform, he sports a swastika armband and a Totenkopf insignia (skull and cross bones.) His sash is inscribed "Pearl Harbor / Dec. 7 1941." Szyk has exaggerated the soldier's physical features in a racialized way entirely consistent with Allied wartime propaganda of the time. We believe that this is a depiction of a Japanese archetype, and not a portrait of Emperor Hirohito, because of important differences in physical appearance and uniform. Szyk's depictions of Hirohito depict the emperor with open eyes, a thicker mustache, and without coke-bottle eyeglasses or buckteeth.

The newspaper that Szyk's Japanese caricature is reading referred to the imminent dual British and American invasion of North Africa, a mission called Operation Torch. The objective was to neutralize French Vichy forces in French colonial territory (Morocco and Algeria) and then pin Axis forces, among them Nazi Field Marshal Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps, between two pincers. Allied landings in North Africa took place in early November 1942 and were largely successful.

The Japanese archetype proclaims that Allied mission commander Dwight D. Eisenhower's dealings in North Africa showed he was "not a gentleman." The hypocrisy of this statement would not have been lost to Szyk's viewers. Many Americans decried the fact that Pearl Harbor was bombed just two days after Japanese negotiators visited Washington, D.C. in an attempt to reduce international tensions. In another illustration, Szyk shows a Japanese archetype very much like this one stabbing a cowboy--representing America--in the back.

Arthur Szyk was a talented illustrator who settled permanently in the United States after 1940. He used his technical knowledge of medieval and Renaissance book illumination to create intricate drawings and illustrations commenting on history, spiritual life, and modern politics. Szyk became one of the most important political cartoonists of World War II, and his drawings were published in major magazines and five times made the cover of "Time." Szyk's ruthless depictions of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Emperor Hirohito, Francisco Franco, Joseph Goebbels, Henrich Himmler, Hermann Goering, Hideki Tojo, Pierre Laval, Henri Pétain and other Axis leaders and Axis puppets fueled the American war propaganda machine.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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March 15, 2023 11:00 AM EDT
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