Irvin Ungar's dedication to reviving Arthur Szyk's satiric power is only surpassed by the artist's passions for making his art. Both men devoted their respective lives to eradicating hatred and evil through the grace and force of impeccable art.
— Steven Heller, design critic/historian and author of Iron Fists: Branding the Twentieth-Century Totalitarian State
Nobody in the world knows more about the artistic accomplishments and legacy of Arthur Szyk than rabbi-turned-book-dealer Irvin Ungar, and nobody has done more to further Szyk’s reputation. In this fascinating and well-illustrated memoir, Ungar recounts a he came to orchestrate the “Szyk renaissance,” the hurdles he overcame, and the fascinating people he met along the way.
— Jonathan D. Sarna, Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis University, and author of American Judaism: A History
Seeking out potentially available works by Szyk led me to Irvin Ungar and—with that encounter—a secondary but equally moving delight. In Ungar I discovered a colleague whose absolute devotion to elevating the artist’s visibility and recognition is nothing short of inspiring. Soon I learned nearly as much about Szyk and his oeuvre as I might have had I encountered the artist himself. (Excerpted from the foreword.)
— Don Bacigalupi, founding president of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
Irvin Ungar reintroduced Szyk’s powerful art and its universal message of justice to broad audiences. His initiatives reached well beyond Jewish circles, fostering interfaith dialogue and educational collaboration with Catholic institutions, and cementing a long-standing relationship with Catholic partners.
— Delio Vania Proverbio, Scriptor Orientalis, Senior Research Fellow for the African, Near and Middle Eastern Collections, Vatican Library
Szyk’s once-celebrated illustrations powerfully exposed the devastating harms of fascism, racism, and antisemitism. Ungar offers a fascinating and timely memoir of his encounter with Szyk’s art—art at once deeply Jewish and strikingly universal. This compelling memoir now amplifies that call, championing artistic freedom while celebrating art’s indispensable inspiration to resist tyranny and sustain democracy and liberty across the globe.
— David Saperstein, Former US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom
Irvin Ungar restores Arthur Szyk to his proper place in the pantheon of the great twentieth-century figurative artists as uniquely driven by a passion for human freedom and dignity. This book is a compelling tale of a successful crusader's triumph over the erasure of memory.
— Leon Botstein, President, Bard College
We are implored to remember the past. Irwin Ungar does more than that. He doesn’t just remember or revive Arthur Szyk, he reclaims him and reminds us of his continued relevance. Ungar does this with passion and precision, the hallmarks of a historian. Arthur Szyk has no better patron, and we are wiser for Ungar’s erudition.
— Henry Schuster, Producer, 60 Minutes
With Reviving the Artist Who Fought Hitler, Irvin Ungar delivers a fresh and lively narrative that underscores the timelessness of the ”soldier in art,” while revealing his own multiple identities—as rabbi, collector, businessman, and more—and the reasons why he so early on recognized the full measure of Szyk’s great and significant work.
— Louise Mirrer, President & CEO, The New York Historical
Irvin Ungar has given us a great gift. This memoir movingly portrays the joint commitment and persistence that our age needs to recover.
— Rev. John T. Pawlikowski, OSM, PhD, Catholic Theological Union, Chicago
I have often called Irvin Ungar “Arthur Szyk’s John the Baptist,” spreading his work far and wide to anyone—to everyone—who might be interested. We seldom hear the story of John the Baptist’s journey spreading the Gospel, but in this work, Ungar has told the fascinating story of his life and his mission with candor and depth, with humor and charm. It is a story well worth telling and so very well told.
— Michael Berenbaum, American Jewish University, author of A Promise to Remember: The Holocaust in the Words and Voices of Its Survivors
Szyk is a singular figure in twentieth-century art—at once a remarkable craftsman, a political activist, a successful commercial artist, a ferocious cartoonist, and the inventor of a style closer to medieval illuminated manuscripts than any sort of contemporary expression. He was also an unabashed propagandist with a taste for patriotic pomp and sturdy muskeljuden.
— J. Hoberman, Tablet
For more than three decades, Irvin Ungar has been a tremendous steward of Arthur Szyk's art and legacy. His memoir vividly chronicles the fascinating journey of both artist and collector.
— Samantha Baskind, Distinguished Professor of Art History, Cleveland State University, and author of Moses Jacob Ezekiel: Jewish, Confederate, Expatriate Sculptor
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, and certainly never as beautifully as in Irvin Ungar’s majestic edition.
— Art Spiegelman, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Maus
