The Patriots. Simón Bolívar and His Times. Paris, 1929.

SZYK, Arthur. The Patriots. Simόn Bolívar and His Times. Signed and Dated “Arthur Szyk, Paris, 1929”. Pen, pencil, and ink on paper. Sheet size: 9 7/8″ x 6 7/8″. Image size:  6 3/8″ x 4 5/8″. Very Good condition.

This piece is unique for two reasons: first, it offers a glimpse into Szyk’s technical process of illumination, showcasing the painstaking draftsmanship and unparalleled attention to posture, expression, and composition. Second, it serves as a point of comparison for the development of Szyk’s style over the years. This piece is an unfinished draft of the artist’s Simón Bolívar series which he started in the 1920s, at the beginning of his career. He returned to this theme late in life, eventually finishing the series in 1950, which was showcased in a posthumous 1952 exhibition entitled Simón Bolívar and His Times, 51 Miniatures by Arthur Szyk in Washington D.C. The viewer can appreciate the subtle stylistic changes between this early work and Szyk’s mature style when comparing the pieces.

Simón Bolívar, the Venezuelan political leader who helped liberate Latin America from Spanish rule, was a historical figure that commanded Szyk’s admiration for his daring and his commitment to core ideals that Szyk held dear: freedom, democracy, and liberty. Szyk intended his Bolívar series to serve as a compliment to his series on George Washington, the famous North American military leader.

In this piece, Szyk shows a group of men engaged in the heat of a frenzied battle. Wielding guns, spears, and cannons, their bodies form a tangled lattice of limbs across the picture plane. Each man wears a unique garment that represents the heterogeneity of the South American people: there is an aristocratic looking white man, several “gaucho” inspired mestizos, and an indigenous fighter, demarcated by his feathered headdress. Szyk finished their bodies in pen, but never completed their faces, which remain faint but highly detailed graphite portraits of their tenacity and resolve.

In the lower banner, Szyk began to fill in a series of flags representing the countries that Bolívar helped to liberate. From left to right, the flags represent Colombia, Venezuela, and Peru. These flags differ from the contemporary flags of these countries, as Szyk chose to illustrate the flags that were used during Bolívar’s time.

Provenance: Alexandra Szyk Bracie, daughter of Arthur Szyk.

[SECOND DESCRIPTION]

This drawing is a study for Arthur Szyk’s series of painted miniatures entitled Simόn Bolívar and His Times. The series was noncommissioned, but Szyk hoped that the paintings in the series would become well-known and serve the causes of freedom and self-determination for people around the world.

The present sketch shows men from a variety of ethnic backgrounds and social strata joining together to battle against the Spanish in the revolutionary struggle for an independent Venezuela. Szyk depicts the central figure of the drawing as a barefoot, wide-eyed rancher or farmer, with a mustache and sideburns, breeches, an open-collared shirt, a vest, and a type of sombrero. Around his waist are a belt and sash, inside of which he carries a pistol. In his right hand he waves the standard of his cause, and his left hand holds a rifle toward the sky. The rancher’s companion behind and on his right is similarly attired and leveling his rifle at an adversary. To the left and rear of the rancher, three fighters of diverse ancestry stand at the ready. A man with African features is closest to the central figure and carries a bayonet. To this man’s left, an Indian wearing a headdress grasps a spear that juts upward, while to the Indian’s left another rancher with a hat stands by.

At the left front of the central figure in the sketch, another man in breeches and vest engages the Spanish royalist forces (represented by a cannon and fallen soldier) with a fierce expression, bared teeth, and a bayonet in hand. By way of contrast, a man in more formal garb kneels at the right foot of the central figure, holding a rifle in his hand. Beneath the sketch of this battle scene, within borders above and below, Szyk has drawn five different shields or coats of arms.

Arthur Szyk began work in 1926 on the Simόn Bolívar series but devoted the years 1948–50 to the completion of the series of miniatures on Bolívar’s life. This suite of 51 images is a distinguished South American counterpart to Szyk’s George Washington and His Times, published in 1932. Both men were tremendously admired by Szyk for their contributions to freedom and democracy in the Western Hemisphere, and each is enduringly remembered as the father of their respective countries. It had always been Szyk’s intention that the miniatures be gathered into book form, but circumstances prevented this.

Provenance: Alexandra Szyk Bracie, daughter of Arthur Szyk.

Exhibition History: The year following his death, from April 14 to May 12, 1952, Simon Bolivar and His Times: 51 Miniatures by Arthur Szyk was exhibited at the Pan American Union in Washington, D.C.

Publishing History: Four-page brochure accompanying exhibition at the Pan American Union and listing all the works of art in the exhibition.