Holocaust Art: 5 Drawings
Five compositions by Hungarian painter Alfréd Lakos (1870–1961). His works were shown at the OMIKE exhibitions (Országos Magyar Izraelita Közmüvelödési Egyesület/Hungarian Jewish Educational Association) founded in 1910. OMIKE played a major role in the Jewish cultural, educational and social life in Hungary until 1944. During the Holocaust Lakos served in the Force Labor Service. The five sketches were drawn after the end of the war from 1945–1947.
1. Ink Drawing, on cream colored, handmade paper (4 1/2 6 3/4"), depicting people hanged from trees with three Nazis in uniform looking on. Contains a handwritten caption: "Német náci banditák az orosz népet irtják" / German Nazi bandits murdering the Russians. The back side features a pencil drawing of a crowd of elderly and middle-age adults, and two children lead by a Hungarian gendarme in uniform with shouldered bayonet. The elderly man walking on crutches and and elderly woman with Stars of David on their clothing. Signed LAKOS in pencil.
2. Ink Drawing, on cream colored, handmade paper (4 1/2 6 3/4"), of father with Star of David on his clothing with his arms around his two young girls. Another figure with Star of David behind the small group, and various other figures on the other side of a barbed wire fence. Captioned in handwriting: "Apa két kis lányával" / Father with two little girls. On the verso a pencil drawing of a Jewish crowd of all ages with Stars of David on their clothes with a officer in uniform and shouldered bayonet in their midst. Signed LAKOS in pencil.
3. B/w Chalk Drawing, on brown handmade paper (10 1/4 x 8 1/4"), depicting a Jewish ditch digger with shouldered spade in the Forced Labor Service. Signed Lakos A in chalk.
4. Ink Drawing, on gray handmade paper (7 x 6"), depicting a deportation with men carrying their belongings, all with hats, and the head of a Hungarian gendarme above the crowd, with shouldered bayonet and the background of small hills. Thousands were sent on foot from Budapest to the Austrian border. Monographer L.C. Verso with few lines and letters.
5. Ink Drawing, on cream handmade paper (9 1/2 x 13"), depicting Joseph, on a chariot, speaking to the crowd with a pyramid as a backdrop. With caption in handwriting: "Folytatása az 1947 febr. megkezdett József vázlatoknak az éhinség idejéböl L.C. 947. okt. 29." / one of the Joseph-sketches of the time of the famine., numbered 2 in the upper right corner. This series was started in February of 1947. Signed LAKOS 947okt.
The verso with three separate sections of text in Hungarian. At the top details about the drawing and the owner of the work, Nándor Pollacsek, a representative of the Synagogue on Aréna Street, Budapest (today Dózsa György Street), who kept it at his private apartment. Underneath in the second section elaborating on the theme, claiming that it was Joseph who saved the people of the world, including the Arabs, during the famine in Egypt. It goes on to say that the Arab leaders, especially the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem (Mohammed Amin al-Husseini?), an ally of Hitler, are threatening the Jewish refugees in Palestine and nobody should be surprised if during this "contemporary famine" the world would stay passive just as they did when Jewish people were mass murdered. The third section written vertically along the left edge two quotes from the Bible: "and the famine was over all the face of the Earth." Gen. 41:56, and "And the famine was sore in the land." Gen. 43:56. Signed Lakos Alfred 30/X. 947 under section two. This paper folded vertically in the middle. Very good condition. Item #42314
Price: $2,750.00