Is That All He Can Do? New York, 1942.

SZYK, Arthur. Is That All He Can Do? Signed and Dated “Arthur Szyk N.Y. 1942”. Watercolor and gouache on board. Sheet size: 13″ x 10 3/4″. Image size: 10 1/2″ x 9 3/4″. Very Good condition.

In this caricature, Szyk presents a turbaned Arab, in princely raiment, playing snake charmer to a snarling cobra that bears the head of Japanese Emperor Hirohito. The cobra’s slithery body is covered in swastikas and the box he emerges from reads Made in Germany.  

By the end of 1942, the Americans had won the Battle of Midway, regained Gaudalcanal and cleared the Japanese out of the Solomon Islands. This severely blunted Emperor Hirohito’s power and left him even more a pawn of the Third Reich. Seemingly de-fanged the Arab now asks “Is That All He Can Do?”

Provenance: Parke Bernet Sale, New York, Mrs. Arthur Szyk, Auction of November 27, 1963. Lot 60.

Exhibition History: United States Naval Academy, November 16–29, 1942; “War and Miniatures by Arthur Szyk”, sponsored by Writers’ War Board. Andre Seligmann Gallery, January 1943, Listed in catalogue, no. 36.