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the SZYK HAGGADAH t h e c o m p l e t e i l l u m i n at e d m a n u s c r i p t a n a l y s i s a n d va l u a t i o n r e p o r t Prepared by Harry L Katz Former Head Curator Division of Prints and Photographs Library of Congress Fall 2018

Analysis and Valuation Report Purpose The purpose of this report is to provide a current analysis and valuation of the complete illuminated manuscript of The Szyk Haggadah Scope The Szyk Haggadah manuscript Forty eight hand lettered illuminated leaves on paper created by Arthur Szyk for his celebrated Haggadah completed between 1934 and 1936 in d z Poland He carried the manuscript to London in 1937 to supervise its printing on vellum by the Sun Engraving Company for the Beaconsfield Press In October 1940 Szyk arrived in the United States with the intact manuscript the very month his Haggadah was published in England Exhibition history of the Haggadah manuscript in part or in its entirety Provenance The manuscript remained with the artist s family following Szyk s death in 1951 Purchased privately in 1980 it was subsequently sold at Sotheby s in 1982 to Richard and Lois Janger of Chicago Illinois In 2006 Paul and Sheri Robbins from the San Francisco Bay Area acquired The Szyk Haggadah manuscript in a private sale May 1 2 1943 National Conference for Palestine of the US Palestine Appeal Philadelphia Media Ink calligraphy watercolor and gouache illumination on paper Dimensions Leaves sheet size measure approximately 11 x 9 5 8 Condition All works are in very good condition with no repairs or extensive treatment Minor marginal discoloration on edges not affecting images from old tape residue All works are archivally matted and housed in two large clamshell boxes April 3 17 1939 Arlington Gallery London April 1939 Brook Street Galleries London February 1941 Forest Hills Jewish Center Forest Hills NY May 22 June 7 1941 M Knoedler Company NYC December 7 30 1944 Messrs Wildenstein Co NYC February March 1945 Philadelphia Art Alliance Philadelphia April 1951 Sinai Temple Mount Vernon NY October 24 December 4 1952 The Jewish Museum NYC January 9 30 1954 Laing Galleries Toronto Ontario Canada November 1974 March 1975 Yeshiva University NYC August 16 1998 February 28 1999 Spertus Museum Chicago April 10 October 14 2002 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Washington DC February 13 June 29 2014 Contemporary Jewish Museum San Francisco September 15 2017 January 21 2018 New York Historical Society NYC

Research Methodology My research included relevant books articles essays archives auction records dealer catalogues and online databases Selected sources follow in Appendix B Valuation Methodology The purpose of this report is to establish current market value for The Szyk Haggadah manuscript Applying the comparative market value approach the valuation presented in this report is based upon established market values for like items rarity and uniqueness condition provenance composition and design and historical and cultural significance My specific approach toward assessing the manuscript has been twofold First I have documented recent values for Szyk s original art and compared these results with prices achieved by his contemporaries for similar works Second recognizing that the manuscript has demonstrated extraordinary historical and cultural value beyond the artist s own oeuvre and epoch I have examined recent prices paid for the most valuable works of Western history art and literature sold within the past twenty years including Jewish and Christian illuminated manuscripts and illustrated books political tracts and religious texts Several comparable works are cited in my assessment Supporting Collection Along with The Szyk Haggadah manuscript the Robbins family has collected over a twenty year period an array of extremely significant illuminations drawings and sketches books and personal correspondence all which support and contextualize the creation of the artist s Haggadah masterpiece Many of the illuminations and drawings were created in the 1920s as Szyk was developing his concept for his Haggadah This integral and supporting material includes sixteen illuminations drawings and sketches among them two unpublished Dedication pages important published editions of The Szyk Haggadah including the only known vellum edition with the Lw w Dedication Page and three letters of correspondence between Arthur Szyk and his editor Cecil Roth This Supporting Collection included with the acquisition of The Szyk Haggadah manuscript is referenced in Appendix A

Overview Upon publication in autumn 1940 Arthur Szyk s illustrated work The Szyk Haggadah which refers to the illuminated manuscript entitled The Haggadah instantly became one of the century s most celebrated books This exquisitely bound and custom cased volume comprising Szyk s original art published as The Haggadah 1940 and The Szyk Haggadah 2008 vividly illuminates one of the world s comprising forty eight brilliantly illuminated and calligraphed leaves great historical stories the Biblical flight of the Jews from Egypt and featured the finest materials and printing processes available at the time The purchase price of 100 English guineas about 500 for each of the two hundred and fifty copies printed for British and American subscribers made it the most expensive new book of the era their liberation from Pharaoh s cruelty a timeless and universal tale of resilience and resistance to persecution intolerance and injustice Szyk s richly sophisticated weapon of words and images emerged in multiple trade editions after 1956 making it an enduring bestseller for generations of world Jewry Art historians curators commentators critics and creators have praised Szyk s printed Haggadah since its publication Upon its release the Times of London raved that it is worthy to be placed among the most beautiful of books that the hand of man has produced The Jewish Chronicle concluded Comparison can properly be made with the masterpieces among the illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages Noted British print historian Stanley Morison asserted It is no exaggeration to say that the volume in respect of the range of problems set by the artist s delicate and multi colored designs and the intention to print scrupulously faithful reproductions of them by the letterpress upon vellum forms a unique triumph or rather a whole series of triumphs The comprehensive scope and intellectual clarity is astonishing as Szyk expert Irvin Ungar has explained So much of Jewish history passes through the Passover Haggadah narrative and through Arthur Szyk s Haggadah in particular This is the work of an artist who combined his two passions art and history to the highest degree In his Haggadah Szyk illustrated the oppression enslavement and attempted annihilation of the ancient Israelites in Egypt events unfolding again in his own time in Nazi occupied Europe His visual commentary on the Haggadah narrative weaves together numerous historical strands of the Jewish people and its heroic confrontation with those who in every generation rise up against them

In order to create his Haggadah Szyk assimilated and mastered a Szyk created the manuscript as an act of love and vital tribute to his vast amount of knowledge He was profoundly familiar with liturgical and narrative texts Midrashim and Aggadah rabbinic commentaries people and culture His illuminations lend collective strength to events of Jewish history and individual dignity to great figures and Biblical imagery He understood Jewish history from Antiquity to portraying them as heroes leading an afflicted and vulnerable people modern times and incorporated into his text and imagery allusions to ancient Egypt and Assyria the Persian and Roman empires the Spanish Inquisition and the Russian pogroms through the modern history of Jews in Poland and Germany to a new land of freedom and opportunity His knowledge of art history the past masters and contemporary movements and trends informed his Haggadah His visual references include nods to da Vinci Michelangelo and Raphael among other Renaissance masters more modern sources include Millet s sower and Hokusai s waves Aestheticism the Arts and Craft movement Art Nouveau Art Deco Futurism and Surrealism among many others Szyk was also a master calligrapher and master of the scribal arts illumination initialized letters initialized words and ornamental design He understood the history of the Jews within the context of modern politics in Europe and the Middle East and possessed a keen understanding of human nature Illuminator and miniaturist cartoonist and caricaturist propagandist for the Allied cause and champion of American democracy Polish patriot and tireless partisan for a Jewish state anti fascist humanist and freedom fighter how does one define this man In the case of Arthur Szyk it is his corpus of work in all its magnificent depth of color and precision of line its passionate intensity and brutal honesty and its uncompromising demand for response and reaction on the part of the viewer that remains his testimony wrote Sara J Bloomfield Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2002 He also created his Haggadah as an act of war portraying Jews as warriors not victims calling for action not pity Following the book s publication in 1940 the artist told American Hebrew magazine that he created his Haggadah as a symbol of the Jewish problem today It is a challenge to unite and resist those who would destroy them The Jews must fight as a nation if they are to survive as a nation For the Jewish people Szyk was a witness and an avatar of courage wisdom and art Mortimer Cohen in the Jewish Book Annual for 1946 stated Arthur Szyk has become through his dedicated art the living chalice in which the divine spirit has brewed a rich mixture of passion conviction and beauty that brings its elixir of life to the Jewish people and mankind

How do we assess such a treasure In 1982 upon its initial sale at auction The Szyk Haggadah manuscript After Szyk s death Jewish author and activist Ben Hecht recalled set a new record at auction for any Judaica work of art for any twentieth century Judaica illuminated manuscript and for any work that Szyk worked for eight years without a pause Nobody paid him anything and nobody thought of thanking him Szyk s art by Arthur Szyk according to a contemporary newspaper account lent a nobility to the Irgun cause His Hebrews under fire under No wonder Shalom Sabar a specialist in illuminated Haggadot has noted Every Haggadah tells its own story Every generation has its own Haggadot that could not have been produced in any other age Szyk in fact produced a Haggadah that was not only profoundly topical and bound to its own time but also transcendent in its artistry execution and impact The tale of its creation only adds luster to Szyk s legend which has grown exponentially as his life and work have been rediscovered and the details of his exceptional career brought to light The Haggadah was the product of extreme bravery and resolution carried out over many years under severe duress Alert to growing anti Semitism in Europe during the 1920s Szyk conceived of creating a new illuminated Haggadah to alert enlighten and empower his fellow Jews By 1934 when he actually embarked on the project Hitler and Mussolini were in power Jews were under attack across Europe and Szyk had long recognized the now imminent existential threat An artist he said at the time and especially a Jewish artist cannot be neutral in these times He cannot escape to still lifes abstractions and experiments Art that is purely cerebral is dead Our life is involved in a terrible tragedy and I am resolved to serve my people with all my art with all my talent with all my knowledge torture exterminated in lime pits and bonfires remained a people to be loved and admired Their faces fleeing from massacre now were tense and still beautiful There was never slovenly despair or hysterical agony in Szyk s dying Jews but only courage and beauty He produced a pictorial time capsule of Jewish history and heroism spanning the ages utilizing every resource of mind body and spirit he possessed towards its production Szyk scholar Irvin Ungar has written His art called upon Jews to be heroic in the face of Nazi terror Ben Hecht attested If there was ever an artist who believed that an hour of valor was better than a lifetime of furtiveness and cringe it was Szyk he fought for the Jews with all his wit genius and manhood In 1938 the artist informed Cecil Roth The Haggadah is the work of my life I sacrificed many years of my work as well as all of my fortune in order to do it Joseph Horowitz of Tel Aviv son of The Haggadah funder Herman Horowitz described the artist s protracted difficulties due to blacklisting and censorship on some of the first originals the tiger and the snakes were bearing the Nazi s swastika and the cut heads were images of Goebbels and Goering These paintings were the expression of the fast growing anti Semitism in those years and because of these symbols on the paintings not one of the Polish and afterwards Czechoslovakian well known printing companies were willing to undertake the reproduction of these paintings as they were

By summer 1940 as Szyk was in England making final arrangements The design was then built up with successive layers of transparent for publication his life was in certain peril Hitler had targeted him for his anti Nazi propaganda his brother and mother were missing and and opaque watercolors adding definition through sculptural means rather than modeling with color and hue differences Use of this presumed lost in Poland his son was fighting somewhere for the Free technique requires a light and supremely confident touch French and de Gaulle the Battle of Britain raged in the skies overhead and bombs soon pulverized the British capital during the Blitz The fortunes of war did not silence Szyk or destroy his masterpiece In July with the precious manuscript in hand and 250 beautifully printed and bound subscription copies destined for preservation in sophisticated English and American collections Szyk with his wife Julia left Europe for good His escape to North America first to Canada in July and in October to the US with his manuscript intact was a small miracle The first printed copies of Szyk s vellum Haggadah appeared in October 1940 While the book holds great value the manuscript itself is firsthand evidence in the artist s own hand of Szyk s epic vision creative ambition and technical prowess The forty eight pages of illuminated vignettes dazzling ornament and stylized calligraphy are Master Files for Szyk s magnificent creation scanner ready for the digital age The leaves hold Szyk s technical secrets and reveal all of the aesthetic qualities he characteristically invested in his original art Library of Congress Senior Conservator Holly Krueger has examined his original illuminations and described his techniques materials and methods including the magical trompe l oeil effects so evident in his portraits ornament architecture and heraldry and such Haggadah pages as The Seder Plate and The Cup of Elijah Szyk began his composition s with a lightly applied but fairly complete under drawing in graphite pencil Traces of this preliminary drawing can be seen under high magnification along the edges of some of the forms The pages reward forensic examination For example in 2002 conservators at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum rediscovered a visible but hidden swastika in the illuminated page Hallelujah a poignant remnant of censorship and Arthur Szyk s struggle against Nazism Critic Carl Van Doren s 1945 incisive comment on Szyk s wartime art in Ink Blood may apply more broadly to The Haggadah Here is the damning essence of what has happened here is the piercing summary of what men have thought and felt How much is that truth worth especially in an increasingly unsettled world in which false narratives persist and many of the issues Szyk addressed in his magnum opus still exist Hounded by Nazis separated from his family and financially desperate Szyk sacrificed his fortunes while risking his life to produce one of the most intelligent profound and expressive works in the history of art What must be acknowledged is that Szyk conceived and executed his illustrated Passover story as if it were the final version ever told for himself his family and his people as if there might not be another generation of Jews

Analysis Among modern counterparts and archaic antecedents The Szyk The Haggadah evokes comparisons with great works of art and history Haggadah is entirely unique The reasons are manifold exquisite artistry design ornament and calligraphy informed iconography Harvard art historian James Kettlewell compares the manuscript to Michelangelo s Vatican frescoes Szyk s joining of the abstract with and an uncanny blend of contemporary realist and abstract trends the real while surrealistic in concept seems organic and natural to combined to produce a visual narrative of uncommon power and timeless resonance Szyk created a world in miniature his art layered and multi faceted as an angel might draw upon the head of a pin God lies in the details revealing truth in its most concentrated form the scene The closest example in art history would be Michelangelo s Sistine Chapel ceiling where the stories are interwoven and overlapped by architectural forms I see Szyk s Haggadah as his greatest work his Sistine Chapel ceiling It is interesting that both thematically and formally there are aspects of The Haggadah that relate to Michelangelo s famous work Both artists aesthetically deal with early Jewish history Both Michelangelo and Szyk mix abstract with representational forms to achieve a tour de force of composition The divine spark between man and God animated the art of both Michelangelo and Arthur Szyk Upon Szyk s death in 1951 Judge Simon Rifkind eulogized he lived in an age in which the wreckers the destroyers and the desecrators were in the limelight and sat in the seats of the mighty He chose to be a builder a beautifier one who hallowed whatever he touched with his spirit The artist as scribe commands our attention The images need to be read in an immediate and straightforward manner writes Richard McBee in the Jewish Book Review yielding their meaning by examining the excruciating detail carefully The aspect of horror vacui employed obsessively filling almost every space with detail is inherited from the 19th century Victorian decorative style and echoes English and Islamic medieval illuminated manuscripts as well as Egyptian hieroglyphics It creates a feverish sensibility encouraging a kind of visual treasure hunt Haggadah art historian Shalom Sabar has written The Szyk Haggadah reveals in initial after initial image after image and page after page the talent of the person behind them his deep thoughts and his ability to express them in unconventional means Moreover there is an overall original concept which unifies all the images of this Haggadah and delivers a clear and sharp message Nobody Jew or not who dedicates any attention to the miniatures and attempts to understand them can remain indifferent to the poignant and sharp message they deliver In 2010 veteran journalist and art blogger Richard Z Chesnoff posted this assessment Szyk was a master of political art a brilliant draftsman artist whose evocative works had all the power of Goya s The Execution 1814 and Picasso s Guernica 1937 Above all he was the 20th century reviver of the medieval craft of the miniaturists and illuminators of sacred texts a multi patriot who devoted his enormous talents to the struggle for freedom and against political evil an artist who so forcefully depicted the battle to defeat the Nazis and their Axis allies that Eleanor Roosevelt declared him a one man army against Hitler

Cecil Roth wrote in his introduction to The Haggadah 1940 Art historian Tom L Freudenheim describes Szyk s art as To call him the greatest illuminator since the sixteenth century is no flattery it is the simple truth which becomes manifest to gesamtkunstwerk multiple art forms combining into a single unified and harmonious ensemble He adds There is a any person who studies his work with the care which it deserves temptation to place Szyk within a range of contemporary trends in He thinks of each page in its relation to the text and to the volume integrating calligraphy illumination illustration and narrative into one harmonious whole art but instead he manages to place himself very self consciously outside of what s happening in the art of his time It is as if he had bigger fish to fry than simply assuring himself a prominent place in the history of art Ever curious ambitious and inventive Szyk s harmonious whole comprised a dizzying array of artistic parts In Poland where he was born and educated and later in Paris where he resided during the 1920s and first conceived of creating an illustrated Haggadah he encountered absorbed and mastered many sources and styles influential Polish and Jewish artists French poster artists British cartoonists and German political illustrators Assyrian and Egyptian reliefs Byzantine icons Islamic designs and Persian miniatures medieval illuminations Renaissance frescoes Romanesque jamb figures Japanese prints Western Romanticism Eastern exoticism and more Szyk could do anything he chose to do in art guided by his prodigious talent and personal humanistic vision As Sarah Kessler notes in an article for Forward com examining Szyk s 1927 painting entitled The Scribe Here s a young artist who can do ornate Renaissance illuminations he can also give you Picasso s abstraction Actually he can give you both at once This painting as it turns out is the only one in which a Picasso appears in Szyk s entire body of work merely as though to prove he s capable of it if he cares to show it Szyk was engaged in a war for humanity and liberty at the most vital levels art was his means and not his end He had no time for prestige and patronage We are not entitled to do the things we like today he remarked Szyk was in and out of his time J Hoberman wrote in 2017 He was not simply an unrelenting anti Nazi or a New Deal propagandist or a committed Zionist He was also the most imaginative Torah scribe and illuminator of 12th century Toledo the Jewish genius of Persian miniatures who never existed Critics increasingly cite Szyk as innovative rather than anachronistic visionary rather than arcane a contemporary alchemist in art Throughout The Haggadah James Kettlewell suggests Szyk interweaves realistic imagery with powerful abstract and symbolic shapes Text becomes imagery and symbols form text Here modernism frees Szyk from the simple and direct imitation of the physical world and creates an art form which could be closely allied with the dream world of modern surrealism The inner penetration of form and content is the very essence of Szyk s artistic method

Triumph of Genius Illuminated or illustrated Haggadot shared by Jews at Passover Seder Nonetheless it is in the colors compositions and carefully recount the story of Exodus for family members and the next generation Exodus 13 8 tells us On that day tell your son I do this because of delineated details that Szyk s illustrations shine his graceful line and sharply penned portraits appear more vivid in the flesh what God did for me when I came out of Egypt The first illuminated Haggadot appeared in Spain by the late thirteenth century while the first printed Haggadot for example the Prague Haggadah of 1526 featured woodcut illustrations Illustrated Haggadot described for Jews throughout Europe their common rituals and shared values they emerged as a crucial pictorial vehicle for sustaining Jewish culture and traditions uniting and educating a diverse and disparate people experiencing widespread persecution The Szyk Haggadah as Jewish critic Yehudah Mirsky commented in 2011 is manifestly different Executed on the cusp of the Holocaust his Haggadah breathes a furious anger as well as ferocious love for the Jewish people and their history Rabbi Ben Zion Bokser an influential Jewish leader recalled in 1953 The Passover story exercised the greatest fascination for Arthur Szyk He saw it as an eloquent reply to the challenge of Nazism His beautiful illumination of the Haggadah is perhaps the greatest triumph of his genius Szyk made his reputation through the wide distribution of printed reproductions His original illustrations and illuminations typically exist as exquisite masterworks from which poured a stream of books and prints articles and essays posters and pamphlets Most were created for reproduction but Szyk always labored to ensure his originals were precisely executed so that reproduction would minimally diminish their visual impact Only within the past two decades however have scholars and the public had such access to Szyk s original art and it has proven a revelation Joel Schechter of Forward com wrote in 2014 referencing the Haggadah illuminations on exhibition at San Francisco s Contemporary Jewish Museum Szyk s gifts as a manuscript illuminator and miniaturist are best understood by a close look at the original pages It seems almost impossible that a man s hand no printing press shaped the perfectly lettered words and finely detailed images Spectators might want to bring a magnifying glass for that close look A reporter for the Times of Israel upon first seeing the full illuminated manuscript on display in 2014 also commented If one looks beyond the obviously eye catching vibrant colors and precise lines of the paintings in The Szyk Haggadah one clearly sees that it is a vigorous response to its time But it is its timelessness that has made it so popular and enduring The visual messages embedded in it by the artist resonate for all generations Contemporary artists and critics agree Art Spiegelman Pulitzer Prizewinning author of Maus has written We Jews have been telling the story of Passover through the Haggadah for almost a millennium but never has it been as stirringly visualized as by Arthur Szyk In 2017 eminent author and graphic design historian Steve Heller wrote in Print magazine that Szyk employed art as an engine of spiritual transcendence and human liberation

Szyk s Rise Just twenty years ago when I first became familiar with Arthur Szyk s His art inspired awe and admiration among many but as numerous art he was under appreciated by museums and the marketplace While Jewish families at Passover routinely read from his internationally scholars suggest he was sui generis No artists attempted to emulate Szyk he engendered no school of followers His premature death in 1951 popular Haggadah and rare book connoisseurs coveted his lushly coincided with the virtual death of realism in contemporary art and his illustrated and elegantly bound special editions the details of his life and body of work were largely overlooked beyond a small community of collectors curators and scholars in the field of Judaica contributions as a fine artist were forgotten for almost a half century At the time I served as Curator in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress and acquired through private sale Szyk s original caricature of Japanese Admiral Yamamoto emblazoned on the cover of Time magazine just days after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 I considered the drawing a sophisticated and historically significant work of graphic Americana I acquired the caricature on behalf of the Library for five thousand dollars a premium price at the time Since then it has been widely published and exhibited Today that drawing would likely be appraised for seventy five thousand dollars fifteen times the amount paid in 1995 We will never know what Szyk might have achieved as a fine artist had he not devoted himself to his Jewish identity and contemporary politics We do know however that his career suffered due to his work as a social advocate and political activist Greatness may be hard to recognize and as critic Steve Heller explains topical artists are often doomed to obscurity As the world moved on Szyk s war art and political illustrations were subsumed by history as a past unpleasant chapter His virtuosity too seemingly worked against him according to James Kettlewell these brilliant design effects in Szyk s work underscore his genius as an artist they are unfortunately difficult to define or to describe and take time to see the observer has to know this is happening to experience it One Szyk reviewer Aron Hirt Manheimer admitted as much in 2017 One of my prized possessions is an illuminated silver bound Szyk Haggadah Until recently though I was unaware that its creator the renowned book illustrator Arthur Szyk was also known for his scathing political caricatures and cartoons Art critic J Hoberman knew Szyk s illustrations for Anderson s Fairy Tales by heart the detailed embroidery angelic expressions salamander arabesques costumed demons humanoid roses monstrous toads Egyptian outfits sinuous poses sly peasants grave princesses Oriental potentates and grasping troll trees Szyk s name was on the book s spine and though I had no idea how to pronounce this odd assortment of consonants it imprinted itself on my 8 year old brain as a kind of ideogram so much so that when decades later I was given The Szyk Haggadah or saw a copy of The New Order I thought Oh that guy Such stories are typical Szyk collectors were isolated disconnected geographically and intellectually He appears to have had separate reputations in disparate fields Hebraica Judaica war art book design and illumination few recognized the totality of his efforts

Within the past two decades however Arthur Szyk s art has become Amplified over the Internet the drumbeat of high profile international significantly better known and more valuable Since the 1990s his achievements as artist and activist have experienced a surge in interest exhibitions publications and publicity has triggered an elevation in Szyk s status by experts and critics Rapidly increasing awareness of spurred by a growing list of major museum exhibitions and catalogues his work among art buyers and the public has led to rising prices in books and monographs articles and essays scholarly symposia and documentary films private sales and public auctions Recent articles praising Szyk s work have appeared in The Nation The New Yorker and New York Times The Atlantic Art Forum Art News Forbes and The Jerusalem Report among other noted journals These reports follow a string of important exhibitions in Chicago Washington DC Berlin New York and San Francisco where the display of Szyk s complete Haggadah manuscript drew widespread praise The Szyk Haggadah is at the forefront of Szyk s recent upswing Beloved by every generation of Jewish families since 1956 when it first appeared in popular editions Szyk s illustrated history of the Passover story is more relevant than ever Two new editions have been published by Historicana 2008 and Abrams 2011 along with a book length study entitled Freedom Illuminated Understanding The Szyk Haggadah and an important dedicated exhibition featuring the original pages at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco 2014 The book which accompanied the 2017 New York Historical Society exhibition entitled Arthur Szyk Soldier in Art received the prestigious National Jewish Book Award In addition a documentary film In Every Generation examines the remaking of The Szyk Haggadah A further stimulant to Szyk s rise is growing awareness of his heroic life story and the enduring relevance of his Haggadah amidst intense global interest in such themes as democratic freedom versus authoritarian tyranny anti Semitism and the Holocaust political despotism and social oppression and ethnic religious and racial injustice

Valuation of The Szyk Haggadah manuscript within the Szyk oeuvre As values for Szyk s illuminations and original drawings rise along De Profundis The United States of America with his reputation The Szyk Haggadah manuscript continues to be viewed by far as the most valued and prized work in his oeuvre Cain Where is Abel Thy Brother New York 1943 Visual History of Nations series New York 1945 since 1982 when it first sold at auction 750 000 300 000 At the Library of Congress I acquired in the late 1990s by gift from a private collector and Arthur Szyk s daughter three masterpieces of graphic Americana his original illuminations of The Declaration of Independence Bill of Rights and Four Freedoms Prayer The Declaration sets the benchmark for his illuminated Americana owing to its epic story of peace and patriotism impeccable provenance oversize format and spectacular design Szyk s loving tribute to American democracy has since been widely reproduced and exhibited and it is far better known now than in the artist s own lifetime Szyk himself valued the painting at 300 000 upon completion in 1950 and the illumination was appraised at 500 000 in 1999 Were the Declaration to be offered for sale now hypothetically as it is housed in the national collections a price well more than 1 million would likely be realized By comparison in scale and impact his Bill of Rights and Four Freedoms Prayer must certainly be valued up to 750 000 each De Profundis is among the most haunting graphic images created portraying Jewish suffering during the Holocaust De Profundis was not conceived with retrospection but created spontaneously in the midst of war as reports surfaced of Holocaust atrocities and Allied victory seemed a distant dream Startlingly relevant the image lay at the heart of current international discourse regarding the response and responsibilities of Catholics and other Christians to Nazi atrocities This masterwork of Americana produced in the aftermath of WWII is a full expression of Szyk s unconditional love of his adopted country The notion of America captured Szyk s imagination like no other country A committed internationalist he saw the United States as a leader in the world s new order a place where freedom lived The design was reproduced widely and remains among Szyk s most popular illuminations In 2016 I appraised The Arthur Szyk Art Collection subsequently purchased by the Taube family for the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life at the University of California Berkeley That collection includes numerous artworks six of which follow valued in excess of 200 000 each These values were assigned before the 2017 NewYork Historical Society exhibition opened with its widespread praise and publicity and prior to publication of Arthur Szyk Soldier in Art which subsequently won the National Jewish Book Award

Israel Visual History of Nations series New Canaan 1948 300 000 Steeped in personal passion and intimate knowledge Szyk s Visual History of Nations illumination for Israel encapsulates four thousand years of Jewish history into a dramatic tableau celebrating the birth of a nation that previously lived only in his dreams Samson in the Ghetto The Battle of the Warsaw The Repulsed Attack The Ballad of the Doomed Jews Ghetto from The Songs of the Ghetto New York 1943 of Europe with Ben Hecht New York 1943 New York 1945 225 000 225 000 The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in spring 1943 commemorates Jews as heroes not victims portraying the doomed defenders as willing martyrs dedicated to self defense and armed resistance The figures depicted in The Repulsed Attack are not faceless they are recognizable individuals known to have participated in Europe s most notable anti Nazi ghetto uprising In The Ballad of the Doomed Jews of Europe Ben Hecht produced his own literary De Profundis a sardonic and accusatory challenge to the Christian response to the Holocaust Szyk surrounded Hecht s damning ode with grim images of a suffering Jewry This is a landmark work in the history of the Holocaust and the Zionist movement created by two legendary activists 250 000 A definitive statement in art realizing Szyk s vision of the Fighting Jew as represented by the heroic defenders of the Warsaw Ghetto Samson a universal symbol for strength in the face of overwhelming odds is the personification of the fighting Jew militant and proud not cowed or submissive The collective significance and value of The Arthur Szyk Collection acquired by UC Berkeley is impressive appraised two years ago at over 12 million dollars in recognition of Szyk s new market status Considering the values documented within that 2016 appraisal as well as cited works acquired by the Library of Congress it is reasonable to project that separately valued as individual leaves prices for the Haggadah manuscript pages would range from 300 000 750 000 each However even at an average of 400 000 per leaf the aggregate total for forty eight leaves equals a value of 19 2 million Ultimately The Szyk Haggadah manuscript is an indivisible entity significantly greater than the sum of its parts

Szyk in the art market Prices for Szyk paintings now meet or exceed auction results for such Szyk s stylized miniatures are receiving significant attention within contemporary Russian Jewish artists as L on Bakst or El Lissitzky and well known works by such celebrated illustrators as J C Leyendecker the world of European art he appears poised to reach a new level of appreciation His De Profundis 1943 and Chagall s White Crucifixion Arthur Rackham Howard Pyle and E H Shepard who famously drew 1938 were recently at the center of an international debate over Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin Principal works by these artists can fetch several hundred thousand dollars or more similar in value to Szyk s most important fine art illuminations and political drawings All of these artists are however established market names while Szyk is only now becoming better known Christianity s response to Nazism Chagall s larger canvases may dwarf Szyk s illuminations in scale but in the marketplace the gap is closing Jewish art historian J Hoberman has commented Where the irrepressible Chagall created a wildly successful synthesis of expressionism fauvism cubism and invented folk art Szyk s images some taken from the Book of Esther were precise and self contained as decorative symmetrical and intricately patterned as Oriental rugs An important Chagall painting entitled Lovers 1928 achieved a record 28 million for the artist in 2017 doubling Sotheby s estimate and the previous record from 1990 when Anniversaire 1923 sold for 14 9 million It could not come at a better time The art market is thriving supporting record prices for Old Masters and modernists alike da Vinci s Salvator Mundi achieved 450 million at auction this past year while prices for signature paintings by Picasso C zanne Modigliani van Gogh Monet Munch and Chagall among others are setting records at auction Francis Bacon s 1969 triptych Three Studies of Lucian Freud achieved 142 4 million at Christie s New York in 2013 In American art realism is surging for instance Norman Rockwell s painting entitled Saying Grace sold for 46 million in 2013

Valuation of The Szyk Haggadah manuscript compared to important books manuscripts and Hebraica Judaica The most valuable books and illuminated manuscripts sold within the past twenty years offer several reasonable and appropriate comparables Bomberg Babylonian Talmud Rothschild Prayer Book In 2015 Sotheby s set a new Bomberg s Talmud set a In 2014 the illuminated Refined magnificent and world auction record for any piece of Hebraica Judaica when a fine copy of Daniel Bomberg s sixteenth century Babylonian Talmud sold for 9 3 million to a New York businessman The nine volume set of the Bomberg Talmud is reportedly among the most complete and best preserved among the fourteen complete extant sets Per Sotheby s The Bomberg Talmud editions were printed on fine paper with clear type and good ink The title pages are simple devoid of standard in the 1500s for beautifully designed and executed Hebrew books his Talmud was a popular bestseller and has great historical significance It has little however to offer in the way of artistic design and illumination and does not address the Jews and their condition outside of liturgy in a way that Szyk s Haggadah makes manifest Rothschild Prayer Book Netherlands 1505 was purchased for 13 4 million by an Australian businessman from Christie s New York now on display in the National Library of Australia Christie s describes this Book of Hours as a Flemish masterpiece one of a group of illuminated manuscripts produced between 1490 and 1520 for international clients and members of the Habsburg court Such manuscripts were produced by collaboration among several representative of fine Flemish illumination as this Book of Hours may be the manuscript tells us more about its own time than ours and is the additive work of many talented hands ornamentation family crests or printers marks In contrast to the simplicity of the title page the first page of each tractate begins with the first word of the text enlarged within a floral woodcut artists and their workshops

St Cuthbert Gospel Magna Carta In 2012 the eighth century While this historically significant In 2007 more than a decade ink represented a world St Cuthbert Gospel Europe s oldest intact book achieved 14 3 million in a sale to the British Library manuscript of the Gospel speaks now primarily to the antiquarian world of publishing and the early history of Christianity in England it is essentially undecorated Szyk s unique visual narrative and epic scope fully illuminated remains embedded within the lives of Jews around the world ago a copy of the Magna Carta sold for 21 3 million at Sotheby s The last remaining copy in the United States and the last in private hands it is one of 17 copies known to exist changing step toward modern democracy Seven hundred and twenty five years later in England home of the Magna Carta The Szyk Haggadah manuscript found a haven In forty eight exquisitely devised illuminated pages filled with dazzling words and images Szyk gave voice light hope and strength to millions of Jews and countless others living under the shadow of fear The Magna Carta drafted in 1215 most closely reflects the spirit of The Szyk Haggadah No king no tyrant no dictator no Pharaoh no ruler is above the law A single sheet of medieval text inscribed in This comparative analysis and assessment confirms that intellectually artistically historically and culturally The Szyk Haggadah manuscript belongs among the world s most highly valued books and manuscripts and has extraordinary value beyond the artist s own oeuvre and time Remarkably underlining the sacred nature of the manuscript to its creator and admirers it has survived intact initially through Szyk s own efforts and subsequently through the combined loving stewardship over generations of his family the Janger family and the Robbins family As generations pass and memories fade it is imperative that this timeless jewel of art history and humanity find a permanent home infused with the passion purpose and resources to take on that sacred trust ensuring that Szyk s epic masterpiece remains safe secure and ever in the forefront of world history and international discourse In one illuminated manuscript Szyk combines the best elements of the Bomberg Talmud the Rothschild Prayer Book the St Cuthbert Gospel and the Magna Carta

Conclusion This analysis and valuation report has examined The Szyk Haggadah I have considered the following in analyzing and valuing The Szyk manuscript from multiple perspectives I have endeavored to document the apparent artistic and intellectual qualities and Haggadah manuscript and the Supporting Collection consisting of associated art books and letters widespread praise associated with The Szyk Haggadah since its publication for almost eighty years it has been among the most beloved and cherished of Hebrew books My discussion of Szyk s reputation within the art world chronicles his rapid rise since the 1990s due to the impact of burgeoning scholarly and popular interest in his life and work His artworks now rival in the marketplace important paintings by more celebrated European and American contemporaries and his reputation continues to rise as the art world and general public have become more familiar with his work Finally I have compared the manuscript to a number of selected books and manuscripts which have sold in the past twenty years in order to assess The Szyk Haggadah as a world treasure among the most notable and significant works of arts and letters created in the twentieth century n Universally praised intellectual and aesthetic qualities revealed in the manuscript n Increasing interest in the artist and his work and concurrent rise in reputation and market value strong market for modern American and European paintings n Intense global interest in themes and issues expressed in The Szyk Haggadah n Historic artistic and cultural significance relative to similarly celebrated and valued books and manuscripts and Hebraica Judaica n Added value of Szyk Haggadah related illuminations drawings and sketches books and autograph letters The total appraised value of these additional highly significant items of the Supporting Collection exceeds 2 million See Appendix A

By comparison with available public and private sales records for Szyk art I have demonstrated that the forty eight leaves for The Szyk Haggadah manuscript are worth an estimated 19 2 million However the manuscript holistically as my analysis indicates has greater value In addition the related art books and letters comprising the creation story of Szyk s Haggadah increase the scholarly impact of this collection and help us trace Szyk s concept for his book to the early 1920s in Paris emphasizing Szyk s enormous expenditure over decades of time energy and artistry to produce his magnificent creation My comparison with valuable books and manuscripts sold recently indicates that valuation of the Robbins Family Collection of The Szyk Haggadah manuscript at a level commensurate with a copy of the Magna Carta and surpassing the value of the Rothschild Prayer Book is reasonable and justified Total valuation for The Complete Illuminated Manuscript of The Szyk Haggadah and Supporting Collection 21 200 000

t h e s z y k h a g g a da h i l l u m i n at e d m a n u s c r i p t Frontispiece The Family at the Seder Dedication to King George VI Kiddush Sanctification She heh iyanu The Bread of Affliction

Preparations for Passover The Seder Plate The Order of the Seder Baby Moses The Four Questions Moses Strikes the Egyptian

t h e s z y k h a g g a da h i l l u m i n at e d m a n u s c r i p t We Were Slaves to Pharaoh The Rabbis at B nai B rak Szyk s Four Sons With a Mighty Hand The Ten Plagues Three Rabbis of Old Dayyeinu

The Four Sons God s Promise With Meager Numbers The Exodus from Egypt Aaron The High Priest Matzah and Maror

t h e s z y k h a g g a da h i l l u m i n at e d m a n u s c r i p t The Sea of Reeds Le fikh akh Therefore Halleluyah Meeting the Messiah Build Jerusalem The Cup of Elijah

Blessings before the Meal Rituals with the Meal Grace After Meals Pour Out Your Wrath Halleil The First Battle with Amalek

t h e s z y k h a g g a da h i l l u m i n at e d m a n u s c r i p t The Great Halleil Nishmat Kol H ai Addendum Prayers Eh ad Mi Yodeia One Who Knows Eh ad Mi Yodeia with Psalms 35 3 H ad Gadya

Naomi and Her Two Daughters in Law King Belshazzar Hymns and Songs Victorious Lions and Kids King David French Dedication Page

Appendix A Valuation of the Supporting Collection Illuminations Drawings Sketches All art created in d z Paris and London all measurements are sheet size all artwork archivally matted most housed in custom clamshell boxes many are framed very good to fine condition Vorsatz doubleaux with Moses and the Tablets London 1937 Pen and ink on paper 9 1 8 x 7 1 2 125 000 The Vorsatz is reproduced on silk in the printed Haggadah and is both the front and back pastedown Most importantly it complements the original art of the Haggadah manuscript and adds to the completeness of the vellum edition Haggadah Shel Pesach Illuminated Border Paris mid 1920s Watercolor and gouache on paper 111 2 x 9 1 2 40 000 Moses Strikes the Egyptian Paris probably 1927 Watercolor ink and colored pencil on paper 81 4 x 5 7 8 75 000 This is the first of several variant Moses Strikes the Egyptian images in the Collection Moses und der Mizri Moses Strikes the Egyptian Paris 1929 Pen ink and pencil on paper 9 5 16 x 7 5 16 45 000 Moses Tuant L Egyptien Moses Strikes the Egyptian d z 1933 Watercolor and gouache on paper 8 x 6 200 000

L Exode The Exodus d z 1933 Watercolor and gouache on paper 8 x 6 200 000 Eretz Yisrael Land of Israel Paris 1925 Watercolor gouache and colored pencil on paper 8 3 8 x 6 1 2 200 000 Provisional sketch for Moses and Pharaoh s Daughter Paris mid 1920s Pencil on paper 11 1 16 x 9 7 8 15 000 Mo se et la Fille du Pharaon Moses and the Daughter of Pharaoh Paris probably 1927 Watercolor and gouache on paper 9 15 16 x 7 13 16 200 000 Moses und die Tochter Pharaon Moses and the Daughter of Pharaoh Paris probably 1929 Pen ink and pencil on paper 9 3 8 x 7 1 4 45 000

Appendix A Moses Aaron und die St mme Israel Moses Aaron and the Tribes of Israel Paris 1929 Pen ink and pencil on paper 83 4 x 613 16 65 000 Szyk comments on slavery in Egypt by changing the symbols of two of the twelve tribes of ancient Israel the tents of the Tribe of Gad become pyramids the donkey of the Tribe of Issachar becomes a man carrying a burden on his back Valuation of the Supporting Collection Illuminations Drawings Sketches King David London late 1930s Pen and ink on paper 10 3 4 x 7 7 8 65 000 Alternative tailpiece for The Haggadah this image prominently signed by Szyk in Hebrew Frontispiece for Beaconsfield Press London probably 1937 Pen ink and pencil on paper 9 3 4 x 6 1 2 25 000 Dedication Page to the Jews of Germany and Austria London 1938 Watercolor and gouache on paper 11 x 9 3 16 300 000 Beaconsfield Press was the publisher of the 1940 vellum edition Dedication in Hebrew reads This Haggadah is presented to our brothers the Jewish people of Germany and Austria who were persecuted because of their race and their faith and who gave their lives for the sanctification of God s name Dedication Page to the Jews of Germany London 1939 Watercolor and gouache on paper 11 1 4 x 7 3 8 300 000 Dedication in Hebrew reads To the memory of the suffering of my brethren in Germany in the 57th century I am dedicating these pictures in my Haggadah Hitler as Pharaoh d z probably 1933 Pencil on paper 10 1 4 x 8 1 4 75 000 Szyk s most important historical drawing connecting Adolf Hitler to Pharaoh

Appendix A Valuation of the Supporting Collection Books The Haggadah with unique Lw w Dedication Page Executed by Arthur Szyk Edited by Cecil Roth London Beaconsfield Press 1940 Signed by both Szyk and Roth Limited numbered edition the only known vellum copy of The Haggadah to contain this extra dedication page 120 000 Dedication in both Yiddish and Polish reads Wanting to pay tribute to my ancestral homeland the residence of my forefathers I dedicate with great devotion and affection this particular Haggadah And in honor of the notables of the city of Lemberg Lw w who were stimulated by my work I am calling this book The Lemberger Haggadah The Haggadah Proof copy London Beaconsfield Press 1940 Proof copy on paper for the 1940 vellum edition with same luxurious binding One of only a few existing copies 25 000 The Haggadah Binding and Box for the Original Art London 1940 This oversize binding and box with 50 blank leaves was designed by Sangorski and Sutcliffe book binders of The Haggadah itself to initially house the illuminated Haggadah manuscript 5 000 The Szyk Haggadah Burlingame CA Historicana 2008 Limited Premier edition 18 000 The Szyk Haggadah Burlingame CA Historicana 2008 Limited Deluxe edition 8 800

Appendix A Valuation of the Supporting Collection Autograph Letters Arthur Szyk Autograph Letter Signed to Cecil Roth London April 28 1938 One and one half pages 12 500 Arthur Szyk Autograph Letter Signed to Cecil Roth New York March 3 1941 One page 12 500 Cecil Roth Autograph Letter Signed to Arthur Szyk Oxford February 25 1951 Two pages 5 000 Text in French in part the Haggadah is the work of my life Text in French in part The pleasure which His Majesty has expressed with regard to my Haggadah has caused me immense pleasure Roth makes reference to the gift of the Greenhill volume which tells the story of the Sun Engraving Company that he is purchasing for Arthur Szyk and which contains a flattering article on The Haggadah The total value of the Supporting Collection exceeds 2 million

Appendix B Bibliography Sources Consulted Books Articles and Reviews Joseph Ansell Arthur Szyk Artist Jew Pole Catherine Ansorge A very individual artist Arthur Szyk and his world Oxford Littman Library of Jewish Civilization 2004 Cambridge University Library Special Collections blog January 20 2012 Steven Luckert The Art and Politics of Arthur Szyk Washington DC United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 2002 Byron L Sherwin and Irvin D Ungar Freedom Illuminated Understanding The Szyk Haggadah Burlingame Historicana 2008 Irvin Ungar Justice Illuminated The Art of Arthur Szyk Chicago Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies 1998 Irvin Ungar Contributions by Michael Berenbaum Tom L Freudenheim James Kettlewell and Irvin Ungar Arthur Szyk Soldier in Art London D Giles Limited in association with Historicana and The Arthur Szyk Society 2017 Katja Widmann and Johannes Zechner Arthur Szyk Drawing against National Socialism and Terror Berlin Deutsches Historisches Museum 2008 https specialcollections blog lib cam ac uk p 1657 Allison Claire Chang Visualizing the Four Freedoms FDR s Fighting Artist Arthur Szyk Nation January 8 2016 https www thenation com article visualizing the four freedoms fdrsfighting artist arthur szyk Richard Z Chesnoff Arthur Szyk A New Exhibit of the Great Illuminator Huffington Post June 11 2010 https www huffingtonpost com richard z chesnoff arthur szyk a newexhibit_b_533377 html Sara W Duke and Holly Krueger The Art of Arthur Szyk Artist for Freedom Featured in Library Exhibition The Library of Congress Information Bulletin Vol 59 No 1 January 2000 https www loc gov loc lcib 0001 szyk html Michael Feldberg Arthur Szyk His Brush Was His Sword My Jewish Learning https www myjewishlearning com article arthur szyk his brush washis sword Renee Ghert Zand Holocaust haggadah s cynical illustrations still bite Times of Israel April 15 2014 https www timesofisrael com holocaust haggadahscynical illustrations still bite

Aron Hirt Mannheimer Soldier in Art Exploring the Activist Works of Arthur Szyk Richard McBee Szyk Haggadah Part II RichardMcbee com ReformJudaism org October 13 2017 https reformjudaism org blog 2017 10 13 soldier art exploring Source The Jewish Press March 17 2010 https richardmcbee com writings contemporary jewish art item activist works arthur szyk szyk haggadah Excerpt of original text archived at https web archive Eve M Kahn org web 20100502021737 http www jewishpress com 80 pageroute do 24135 archives Arthur Szyk s Haggadah and Singapore s Sunken Arab Treasure Celebrating Arthur Szyk Master Illustrator New York Times March 10 2011 https www nytimes com 2011 03 11 arts design arthur szyks Yehudah Mirsky Freedom Tales Jewish Ideas Daily April 13 2011 haggadah and singapores sunken arab treasure html http www jewishideasdaily com 863 features freedom tales Abraham J Karp Fiona Neale Beauty is in the Hands of its Creators Three Haggadot Jewish Virtual Library A new acquisition The Szyk Haggadah Sp Coll RF 1162 University of Glasgow Library July 6 2015 Source From the Ends of the Earth Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress DC Library of Congress 1991 http www jewishvirtuallibrary org three haggadot judaic treasures https universityofglasgowlibrary wordpress com 2015 07 06 a new acquisition the szyk haggadah sp coll rf 1162 Margarita Korol Ohm Vey Reissue of The Kama Sutra of Haggadot Hits The Spot For Visual Learners Jewcy com Tablet April 21 2011 http jewcy com jewish arts and culture szyk haggadah Richard McBee Szyk Haggadah Part I Jewish Book Review Source The Jewish Press March 10 2010 https jewishbookreview wordpress com 2010 03 21 a review of the szyk haggadah Original text archived at https web archive org web 20100417041040 http www jewishpress com pageroute do 42920 Ozzie Nogg Haggadah Art Illuminating our way through Jewish history Connecticut Jewish Ledger April 4 2012 http www jewishledger com 2012 04 haggadah art illuminatingour way through jewish history Joel Schechter The Most Beautiful Haggadah in the Room Forward April 5 2014 https forward com culture 195693 the most beautifulhaggadah in the room Stephanie Wagner The Szyk Haggadah reflects the times Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle April 8 2016 https www jewishchronicle org 2016 04 08 the szyk haggadahreflects the times The Arthur Szyk Society Newsletter Special Haggadah Edition Vol 13 February 2014 https issuu com thearthurszyksociety docs 2014 szyk societynewsletter volume

Appendix C Important Museum Exhibitions in Recent Years Arthur Szyk Soldier in Art Arthur Szyk Drawing Against National Socialism and Terror New York Historical Society New York City Deutsches Historisches Museum German Historical Museum Berlin Germany September 15 2017 January 21 2018 August 29 2008 January 4 2009 Accompanied by book publication Accompanied by book publication Arthur Szyk and the Art of the Haggadah Contemporary Jewish Museum San Francisco February 13 June 29 2014 The Art and Politics of Arthur Szyk United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Washington DC April 10 October 14 2002 Accompanied by book publication Arthur Szyk Miniature Paintings and Modern Illuminations Legion of Honor Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco San Francisco December 10 2010 March 27 2011 A Picture is Worth a Thousand Swords The Art of Arthur Szyk New Britain Museum of American Art New Britain Connecticut October 24 2010 January 30 2011 A One Man Army The Art of Arthur Szyk Holocaust Museum Houston Houston October 20 2008 July 29 2009 Arthur Szyk Artist for Freedom Library of Congress Washington DC December 9 1999 May 6 2000 Justice Illuminated The Art of Arthur Szyk Spertus Museum Chicago August 16 1998 February 28 1999 Accompanied by book publication A traveling exhibition of reproduction art with the same title traveled throughout Poland Warsaw Jewish Historical Institute d z Museum of the City of d z and Krak w Center for Jewish Culture 2005 Accompanied by study guide

Appendix D Biography of Arthur Szyk 1894 1951 Arthur Szyk was born in d z Poland on June 3 1894 He left home at age fifteen to study art in Paris where he experimented with contemporary styles including abstraction He was drawn instead to the intricate and decorative style of illumination in the tradition of medieval and Renaissance miniaturist painters During the 1920s Szyk created highly detailed miniature scenes and portraits for illustrated books which included decorative and symbolic border patterns and calligraphy During the 1930s and 1940s he drew numerous works promoting Jewish rights and liberties while condemning Fascist and Nazi depredations In 1932 he completed the Statute of Kalisz a forty five page illuminated manuscript commemorating the thirteenth century edict granting civil and religious privileges to Poland s Jews In that same year his first major work of Americana Washington and His Times was published In 1938 while in London his celebrated Glorious Days of the Polish American Fraternity series advocated closer ties between Poland and America on the eve of World War II In 1940 Szyk published his world renowned version of The Haggadah which remains a Passover tradition for Jewish families Through generations critics have considered Szyk s Haggadah one of the most beautiful books created in the twentieth century In 1940 Szyk immigrated to the United States preceded by a short residence in Canada During World War II working in New York City Szyk produced a steady stream of anti Nazi cartoons and caricatures for major US publications including Time Collier s Esquire Look the New York Times the New York Post and the Chicago Sun where his provocative war drawings often appeared on the front page or were featured as editorials in themselves His work vilified Axis leaders and helped to strengthen and support the Allied war effort His war drawings were used to promote US war bonds and were credited with boosting sales A survey conducted by Esquire magazine proclaimed that Szyk s political cartoons were more popular with young American soldiers than photos of pin up girls

A fierce advocate on behalf of Europe s Jewish refugees and for the Szyk received numerous accolades for his political achievements and establishment of the State of Israel Szyk produced more Holocaust art during the war than any other artist his images were among the most artistic endeavors on behalf of nations He received from France the Ordre des Palmes acad miques 1923 from Poland the Gold Cross of widely distributed and reproduced of the World War II era Remarkable Merit 1931 and the George Washington Bicentennial Medal from the works including De Profundis and The Ballad of the Doomed Jews of Europe with Ben Hecht helped spread word of the Holocaust through reproduction in articles advertisements and pamphlets United States 1934 In 1948 he became a US citizen Szyk died of a heart attack in 1951 at the age of fifty seven survived by his wife Julia his son George and daughter Alexandra In America Szyk was among the first to speak out against segregation and other forms of racism against blacks in the American armed forces After the war he returned to the art of literary illumination creating well known illustrations for Andersen s Fairy Tales The Arabian Nights Entertainments and Chaucer s Canterbury Tales His Visual History of Nations series is recognized worldwide He created a series of commemorative illuminations including the Proclamation of the Establishment of the State of Israel and masterpieces of illuminated Americana including the US Declaration of Independence the Bill of Rights Four Freedoms Prayer and Thomas Jefferson s Oath These gloriously patriotic works were the culmination of his life s artistic journey graphic odes to the freedom from tyranny he felt he had found in the United States Upon arriving in America in late 1940 Szyk declared At last I have found the home I have always searched for Here I can speak of what my soul feels There is no other place on earth that gives one the freedom liberty and justice that America does His original works are housed in numerous prominent international museums and galleries including Royal Collections at Windsor Castle and the British Museum London the Biblioth que nationale de France Paris the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Library of Congress in Washington DC the Jewish Museum and Yeshiva University Museum in New York City McGill University Montreal the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York City the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park New York and the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life at UC Berkeley

Appendix E Professional Credentials Certification Credentials I Harry L Katz am a qualified expert in American and European works on paper with specific expertise in the art of Arthur Szyk My credentials include thirty years experience handling and appraising original paintings drawings caricatures cartoons and illustrations and other forms of fine and graphic art notably at the Library of Congress 1991 2004 where I served as Head Curator within the Division of Prints and Photographs As curator author editor and consultant I have continued to work with institutions and organizations collectors prominent artists and their heirs including Herbert Block Herblock Jules Feiffer Paul Conrad Pat Oliphant Tony Auth Signe Wilkinson and Ann Telnaes all winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning In addition I have served as Juror for the Robert F Kennedy Prize and the Herblock At the Library of Congress I produced numerous exhibitions on art Prize From 2004 to 2011 I served as the first Curator of The Herb Block Foundation Collection politics and history and led the initiative to gather images related to the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001 The Library of Congress pictorial holdings comprise several hundred thousand prints and drawings spanning six centuries I have wide expertise as a specialist in American and European fine and applied graphic art from fifteenth century woodcuts to contemporary book illustrations I also directed activities of the Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon which awards the prestigious Swann Fellowship for cartoon studies As a recommending acquisitions officer for the Library I routinely met with leading artists and collectors or their heirs to evaluate and appraise potential purchases or gifts I have studied Arthur Szyk s work for more than two decades The Library of Congress graphic art collections for which I was responsible include dozens of his original drawings while the Rare Book Division houses numerous first editions and a complete set of printed proof leaves for The Haggadah 1940 During my tenure I acquired by gift and purchase many fine examples of Szyk s World War II work and three masterpieces of his Americana The Declaration of Independence 1950 the Bill of Rights 1949 and the Four Freedoms Prayer 1949 In winter 1999 2000 these I am the author or editor of many illustrated books featuring graphic art including fine prints photographs sketchbooks and drawings book items formed the core of an exhibition I curated at the Library of Congress Arthur Szyk Artist for Freedom That exhibition inspired illustrations posters cartoons and caricatures These books include Mark Twain s America Little Brown 2014 Civil War Sketch Book W W Norton 2012 and Baseball Americana Treasures from the Library of Congress HarperCollins 2009 Books based upon my work with illustrators and cartoonists include Herblock The Life and Work of the Great Political Cartoonist W W Norton 2009 Cartoon America Comic Art in the Library of Congress Abrams 2006 Humor s Edge Cartoons by Ann Telnaes Pomegranate 2004 and Oliphant s Anthem Pat Oliphant at the Library of Congress Andrews McMeel 1998 My work has been published in such magazines as National Geographic Smithsonian American Heritage American Senior and Civilization other exhibitions at major art museums including the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco In addition I authored Democracy s Weapon Arthur Szyk in America The Arthur Szyk Society 2005 In 2016 I evaluated The Arthur Szyk Collection and Archives subsequently gifted in its entirety by the Taube Family in 2017 to the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life at the University of California Berkeley

Certification The purpose of this report is to analyze and value The Szyk Haggadah manuscript as it relates to historic trends and current market conditions This report represents my best judgment and opinions and does not represent or warranty that the manuscript will realize that value or more if offered for sale in an appropriate market Applying the comparative market value approach valuations of the items presented in this report are based upon established market values for like items rarity and uniqueness condition provenance composition and design and historical and cultural significance I examined the items and relied on a variety of sources and cataloging information My valuation is based solely on personal research and analysis Remuneration for this report was based upon a flat fee plus expenses and was not contingent upon a percentage of the valuation or reporting a predetermined value or direction in value that favors the cause of the client the amount of the value estimate the attainment of the stipulated result or the occurrence of a subsequent event I have no personal financial interest or bias in the property Harry L Katz Date Harry L Katz harrylkatz gmail com harrylkatz com

Detailed descriptions of all leaves of The Szyk Haggadah manuscript and all art of the Supporting Collection may be viewed at www theszykhaggadah com