Arts Entertainment MORE THAN OMELETTES GEST OMELETTES Four Star Rating/Detroit News & Free Press 4 4** Full Breakfast & Lunch Menu 1/2 OFF Purchase one entree and receive 50% off second entree of equal or greater value COUPON Not valid on Sunday and Holidays • Children's Menu • Non Smoking 39560 Fourteen Mile Road (248) 926-0717 g Put your face in the hands of... 4121te_S pa The Art Of Jewish Heroism Every Monday... 2 for 1 European Facial Exhibit of Arthur Szyk's illustrations featured at U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Call for Appointment Easy cat v; t4G c,14-ezhez._ 630 N. Old Woodward • Suite 301 Birmingham, Michigan 48009 248.642.6787 www.glanczsalon.com NOW OPEN pLACHIS tra "Gourmet Food in a afaaki&-torher A Full Service Restaurant Serving Lunch Only! Monday - Friday 11-2 LIMITED TIME °1/0 O'FF 47/tit'r,14- 71t 32431 Northwestern Hwy. (248) 855-8447 .1720 „ars 7/ 5 2002 64 C OPE SHARON SAM BER Jewish Telegraphic Agency I is difficult to walk away from Arthur Szyk's work and not understand his message: Jews should not be portrayed only as victims. - As you walk into the new exhibit of Szyk's art at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., the first image is an enormous back-lit illustration that shows Jewish figures as victors and resisters. That description could work for many of Szyk's illustra- tions of Jews — and not just that first picture of Moses, Aaron and the military figure Hur taken from a Haggadah featuring his illustrations — because the artist set out to redefine how people looked at Jews. The Jewish art that Szyk (1894-1951) created was intended to show that Jews fought for themselves and also could be warriors who contributed to the countries they lived in. For Szyk, "Jewish history is not just persecu- tion, it's heroism,” explains Steven Luckert, the exhibit's head curator. The exhibit, "The Art and Politics of Arthur Szyk," is the first large-scale art exhib- it the museum has ever held. It will run through Oct. 14. Battling Anti-Semitism The exhibit's title shows how hard it is to sepa- rate the political from the creative in Szyk's life, as it takes the viewer through three dis- tinct periods of Szyk's work — from Jewish- themed illustrations to political cartooning to drawings on behalf of the Jewish state. In the 1930s, when he saw anti-Semitism increase in his native Poland, Szyk was working mainly as a book illustrator. As he worked on the illustrated Haggadah, his anti-Nazi message became more pronounced and Szyk even consid- ered portraying the Egyptians as Nazis. Ultimately he did not, but in the Haggadah he drew Jews going to Palestine in a symbolic plea to keep Palestine's borders open so that Jews could escape Hitler. "An artist, especially a Jewish artist, cannot be neutral in these times," he said in 1934. "Our life is involved in a ter- rible tragedy and I am resolved to serve my people with all my art, with all my talent, with all my knowledge." In 1940, he immigrated to the United States. Wanting to use his artwork to win support for the Allies, Szyk turned to political cartooning and caricature. He even offered his services to turn out propaganda for the Polish government-in-exile. . Above: In "Satan Leads the Ball," Arthur Szyk used his talents to win support for the Allies of World War II. Left: Artist Arthur Szyk used po litical cartooning and caricature to produce anti-Hitler art like "Bloody Hands."