"Purim," reproduction of Arthur Szyk illustration from "Holiday Series"
Gift of Benjamin and Miriam Rudolph
Id no. 878.92, Artwork, English, Hebrew
Created by: Arthur Szyk
Grandfather is reading the Megillah, Book of Esther; "Purim spielers" in costume entertain; wine and hamantaschen are on the table; a portrait of Sir Moses Montefiore is on wall. All these activities would not take place simultaneously except in the artist's imagination. The artist depicted members of his own family in the Holiday Series, which may have been originally done for a calendar. The illustration is captioned in Hebrew and English. A Purim spiel, or Purim play, is a dramatization of the story of Purim that is told in the Book of Esther, recording the victory of the Jews over Haman's plot to destroy them.
