The Art Academy. Krakow, 1913. Sketchbook, Leaf 1.

SZYK, Arthur. The Art Academy. (Krakow, 1913.) Pen and graphite on paper. Sheet size: 9 1/4″ x 11 3/4″. Detail size 1 1/4″ x 5 3/8″. One of 19 sketchbook leaves, many with drawings on recto and verso. Good condition.

This page from Arthur Szyk’s 1913 sketchbook contains several drawings of men in military dress, mostly in profile. Of those who are shown in full figure, half are caught in purposeful stride, and more than half hold a hand to their head although for what purpose – to salute, to scratch their head, or to straighten their eyeglasses – is not entirely clear.

Also on this sketchbook page is a panel with pronounced social/political attitude. At the upper right, an art academy is portrayed as a boot camp where aging instructors are in military dress and sit on wooden horses. They force the students (each with an identically painted canvas) to stand and salute them. Szyk enjoyed caricaturing men in uniform who ordinarily would be shown deference.

Provenance: Bernard Gittelson, 1940s agent of Arthur Szyk in New York.

Exhibition History: Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, 29 August 2008—4 January 2009; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Palace of the Legion of Honor, December 4, 2010—March 27, 2011.

Publishing History: Drawing Against National Socialism and Terror, Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, 2008, p. 48.