The Magnes exhibition In Real Times. Arthur Szyk: Art & Human Rights (1926-1951), created to showcase the Taube Family Arthur Szyk Collection, is poised to open at The National WWII Museum in New Orleans on September 1. As The Magnes’ first-ever traveling exhibition, this partnership sets in motion plans to showcase the Arthur Szyk and Vishniac collections across the US and internationally.
The exhibition includes over fifty original works of art from the Taube Family Arthur Szyk Collection, acquired by The Magnes in 2017 thanks to an unprecedented gift by Taube Philanthropies, and features interactive digital workstations created by UC Berkeley students working under Magnes curators Francesco Spagnolo and Shir Gal Kochavi.
Arthur Szyk’s compelling political cartoons placed Nazi genocide, tyranny and racism on the covers of America’s most popular magazines during World War II. Uniquely through art, Szyk was one of the first public figures to take immediate, direct action in bringing attention to the Holocaust as it was being perpetrated. The miniature size of his artwork stands in striking juxtaposition to the magnitude of the themes it confronted and the human rights violations it exposed.
“The main work we did in acquiring the Taube [Family] Arthur Szyk Collection was to transform it from a privately held art collection into a publicly accessible one. We are not gatekeepers, we are sharers of cultural content,” said Professor Spagnolo.
With this vision, The Magnes looks forward to sharing this exhibition with a wider audience as it travels to The National WWII Museum in New Orleans and then on to the Fairfield University Art Museum in Connecticut.