Russian Jewish Shop Owner. Lódz, 1915.

SZYK, Arthur. Russian Jewish Shop Owner. Signed “A. Szyk.”  (Lódz, prior to March 1915.) Original pen and ink on cardstock (postcard). Sheet size:  3 9/16″ x 5 1/2″. Image size: 3 1/2″ x 5 1/4″.  Printed postcard information (in Russian), handwritten message (in German), and two mail stamps of the German 9th Army – one from Feldwetterstation 3 [meteorological station #3] and the other the Oberkommando [High Command] – on verso. Very Good condition.

This very early Szyk work probably was completed during Szyk’s World War I military service for Russia. Sketched on the front of a postcard with a delicate cross-hatching technique, the image conveys the sensitivity and naturalism of Szyk’s early travel drawings. Szyk created this piece long before his political caricatures, and the viewer can appreciate that the faces and gestures of the three men retain a delicacy and subtlety that Szyk dispatched with later in his career.

In this image, a shopkeeper stands at left. He is clearly Jewish, owing to his cap, sidelocks, and beard. He appears to be conversing with the two men across the counter as he serves them a bottled beverage. The two men have moustaches, rounded faces, and ample caps, and are probably meant to be Russian. This sketch is unusual in Szyk’s body of work, as it represents “slice of life” scene of quotidian ordinariness. It hardly seems to matter whether these are real individuals or a fantasy scene from Szyk’s imagination—it is a perfect depiction of an unremarkable, real-life scenario.

Literature: Ansell, Joseph. Arthur Szyk: Artist, Jew, Pole. Oxford: The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2004, p. 20.