Arthur Szyk - Illuminator
One of the greatest miniaturist illuminators of the past 400 years was Arthur Szyk. Born in Lodz, Poland in 1894, he began drawing at age 6. He was world renowned for the creation of his Passover Haggadah, which was first printed in London in 1940. Szyk was also the illuminator of what has been called the "Jewish Magna Carta" -- the Statute of Kalisz, which guaranteed “civil and religious privileges” to the Jews of Poland in the early middle ages.
He made his home in such diverse places as Poland, Paris and London, and finally emigrated to the United States in 1940. Szyk died in 1951 but his artistic legacy lives on. This biographical film is filled with his stunning "illuminations" and the story behind them.