De Profundis. Cain, Where is Abel Thy Brother? New York, 1943.
Szyk’s Monumental Contemporary Rendering of Holocaust Victims
SZYK, Arthur. De Profundis; Cain Where is Abel Thy Brother? Signed and Dated “Arthur Szyk, N.Y. 1943”. Black pen and ink on board. Sheet size: 15″ x 20″. Image size: 12″ x 16 1/8″. Very Good condition.
Arthur Szyk has created with De Profundis, the ultimate visual imagery of the suffering and slaughter of an innocent people for their faith. Men, women, and children are piled together in a mountain of dead and dying humanity. An old man struggles to prevent the Torah slipping from his hands; a child screams in mortal fear; an elderly couple clings hopelessly to one another and, as if to confirm the arrival of the final horror, Szyk has ruthlessly drawn the open unseeing eyes of the newly dead.
It is likely that The Textbook Commission (Chicago and New York) employed Szyk to illustrate their national campaign against Anti-Semitism in American textbooks. With the stupefying knowledge of the Holocaust massacres becoming reality, an organization of non-Jewish people assembled this Commission to identify and stop the subtle anti-Semitic language that was appearing in school children’s textbooks. An ad for the support of this Commission, together with Szyk’s De Profundis (shown full size) first appeared in The Chicago Sun on Feb. 12, 1943. The accompanying text is neatly written from a Christian viewpoint with the idea being that hatred of Jews is hatred against humanity and thus contrary to the laws of “Christendom”. In the upper left corner of the image, Jesus himself holds the Tablets of Moses in his left arm, while cradling a dying Jewish child in his right.
The phrase “De Profundis” [Out of the Depths] is taken from Psalm 130, composed probably during the Babylonian Exile. “Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord… hear my voice; let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications…” The school of suffering known to the psalmist, Job, and Jesus has led to a universal hope and belief in the mercy of God. In this supplication there has always been, faintly heard, a distant approach of coming answer. The Catholic Church recites Psalm 130 during prayers for the dead. It is the psalm for the holy souls in purgatory.
Abraham Joshua Heschel, the great 20th century Jewish theologian once wrote “In a free society, some are guilty, all are responsible.” Clearly Szyk’s monumental rendering of De Profundis, one of his most important works, points to world responsibility toward unfolding events befalling European Jewry.
Provenance: Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 1959, lot no. 68, sold by the order of Mrs. Arthur Szyk. Of the over 290 lots sold at the four Arthur Szyk sales held by Parke-Bernet between 1959 and 1965, De Profundis was the largest pen and ink drawing sold.
Exhibition History: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, April 10–October 14, 2002; 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: Chicago Sun, Friday, February 12, 1943; Newark Jewish Press, March 9, 1943; Chicago Sentinel, March 11, 1943; Atlanta Georgia Israelite, April 21, 1944. Justice Illuminated: The Art of Arthur Szyk, Spertus Museum Catalogue 1999; Luckert, Steven. The Art and Politics of Arthur Szyk. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2002, pp. 109-111; on the website of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; Newsletter, The Arthur Szyk Society, Burlingame, CA, Summer 2004, p. 8; Art History Publication Series No. 1, The Arthur Szyk Society, pp. 1-8; Drawing Against National Socialism and Terror, Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, 2008, pp. 238-239; J. The Jewish News Weekly, San Francisco, December 17, 2010, p. 26; Artur Szyk: Dziedzictwo polsko-zydowskiego artysty {The Legacy of Polish-Jewish Artist], Krakow, Stradomskie Centrum Dialogu, 2011, p. 8; Artur Szyk: Man of Dialogue [Polish and English editions], Centrum Dialogu, Lodz, 2011, p. 32; Miniature Paintings and Modern Illuminations, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2011, exhibition brochure.
