Madness. New York, September 1941.

SZYK, Arthur. Madness. Signed and Dated “Arthur Szyk, N.Y. Sept ’41”. Original watercolor and gouache on paper. Sheet size: 12″ x 9 5/8″. Image size: 11 1/2″ x 9 1/2″. Archivally conserved and relaid. Very Good condition.

In this lushly imagined work, Szyk skillfully brings together his abilities as a cartoonist and illuminator. The ornately detailed world Szyk creates is laden with intricate, obscure symbolism, however, his objective as a cartoonist is clear-cut and direct: to undermine the Nazi regime and bring the hearts and minds of the American people to consciousness about the plight of the Jewish people.

In Madness the viewer encounters several Axis leaders positioned around a globe. They are from left to right: Hermann Göring, Heinrich Himmler, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, and lying on the ground, Benito Mussolini and Marshal Pétain. Szyk demonstrates his great ability at capturing specifics of countenance and character, while slightly exaggerating features and gestures so as to make them more grotesque. The uniforms are carefully and precisely rendered so that the viewer knows exactly who they are looking at. At the far left, the corpulent Göring, a decorated fighter pilot and Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe, grins menacingly, resting one pudgy bejeweled hand on his stomach while raising a baton emblazoned with the Nazi insignia in the other. Himmler stands slightly behind him, glowering at the globe with a weasel-like expression. He is dressed in the uniform of a Nazi SS man, and is easily identifiable as the Chief of the German police—the man who coordinated the killings of thousands of people in the concentration camps. Sitting in front of him Hitler joyfully prepares to place another tiny flag on the globe, which is already peppered with red and black Nazi flags. His vacant expression makes him look even more maniacal and evil than the flanking men. At his side, Goebbels stands ready with a fresh tray of small flags. The Reich Minister of Propaganda is diminutive and elfin, and grins slightly as he supplies the Führer with a seemingly endless supply of Nazi propaganda. At the base of the globe, a miniature Mussolini and Marshal Pétain sprawl exhaustedly on top of each other. They appear as puppets tossed aside by the larger and more menacing men plotting around the globe.

The globe itself is as terrifying as the men that encircle it, with skeletons clothed in Nazi uniforms dangling from the sides and a large rattlesnake uncoiling below. The skeletons hold sinister messages in their bony hands: “All Hope Abandon Ye Who Enter Here,” the words supposedly inscribed on the gates of Hell, and “Nazi Propaganda.” On the globe stand, Szyk includes words from a popular Nazi song: “Es zittern die morschen Knochen,” or “The Rotten Bones are Trembling,” the official song of the Hitler Youth. He chooses an apt excerpt from the song for the inscription: “Today Europe hears us…and tomorrow, the whole world.” With these last details, Szyk eloquently and chillingly echoes a warning to the viewer about the growing threat posed by Nazi propaganda and the necessity for action.

Provenance: Parke Bernet Sale, New York, Mrs. Arthur Szyk, March 26, 1959, lot 55 [illustrated].

Exhibition History: US Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, November 1942; Andre Seligmann Inc., New York, January 1943; Wildenstein Galleries, New York, December 7–30, 1944; Philadelphia Art Alliance, February 20–March 11, 1945; Mellors-Lang Galleries, Toronto, Canada, January 9–30, 1954; de Young Museum, San Francisco, California, 1941 (exhibition at the de Young according to 1959 Sotheby catalogue needs verification).

Publishing History: Collier’s magazine cover, January 17, 1942 (This work was painted during the same month, September 1941 as Historic Poker Game); Look magazine, September 8, 1942, p. 38; The Polish Review, New York. June 29, 1942; Star Beacon, Geneva, Ohio, May 31, 2006, B Section, p. 1.

Literature: Caption accompanying appearance of Madness in Look magazine: ”’Madness’ is the title of the above cartoon of Goering, Himmler, Hitler and Goebbels, reprinted by courtesy of Collier’s, in which it stirred wide interest. It is the work of Arthur Szyk, scathing anti-Axis artist, who has been called “a one-man army.” He drew the caricatures on the opposite page especially for Look.”