Le Gibier de Potence. New York, 1941.

SZYK, Arthur. Le Gibier de Potence [The Gallows Bird]. Signed and Dated “Arthur Szyk, N.Y. 1941”. Black ink and pencil on paper. Sheet size: 11″ x 8 1/2″. Image size: Drawing 8″ x 6″. Very Good condition.

Syzk’s caricatures of Henri Philippe Pétain, Marshall of France and Jean François Darlan, Minister of the Navy, do very little to establish them as Frenchmen. Indeed, their uniforms are festooned with the German crosses and swastikas so prevalent during the Third Reich, and this is precisely Szyk’s point. It was a matter of only a few days from Hitler’s occupation of France in June 1941 before Pétain signed an armistice with Germany. He established the new (occupied) government of France in Vichy working closely with the Germans until fleeing to Switzerland at the onset of the Normandy invasion. Darlan was promoted to Commander in Chief of the French Armed Forces and High Commissioner in North Africa.

To free Frenchman and all of the Allies these two were synonymous with treason and responsible for countless undeserved deaths of many of their countrymen. As such they deserved nothing less than to swing from the gallows — as freely as birds.

Note: Similar to “Joyous Collaborators” in The New Order and republished in Deutsches Historisches Museum Berlin catalogue, p. 142.

Provenance: Parke Bernet Sale, New York, Mrs. Arthur Szyk, March 26, 1959. Lot 76A.