Page 7 - Centrum Dialogu im. Marka Edelmana w Łodzi. Artur Szyk, Man of Dialogue.

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rtur Szyk was born in Łódź, on 16 June
1894 (sometimes a different date is given,
Anamely 2 or 3 June). His father, Salomon
(Szloma) Szyk, was an industrialist. He worked in
Moscow in the Zindel&Company textile factory. 7 7 BIOGRAPHY
His mother, Eugenia Rogacka, also came from
Russia, from Vitebsk. The Szyks moved to Łódź –
which at the time was a rapidly developing center
of textile industry – probably in the 1890s.
The Szyk factory was located at Cegielniana
Street, at number 272a, on a lot stretching
between Piotrkowska and Wólczańska streets
(today Więckowskiego 5). The Szyks moved to a
house in the same street.

The artist spoke about his childhood and early
youth in Łódź on many occasions:
"Here, in Łódź, I was taking my first steps, here
I spent my turbulent youth and there are
thousands of threads that tie me to this city. Łódź,
in spite of the thick layer of dirt on the ground
and the smoke in the sky, has a great, good heart,
like no other place in the world. Trust me, I am
not blinded by patriotism but I speak from
experience. In my life, I have travelled so much,
I have visited many cities in Europe and Asia, and
although everywhere I was welcomed by
The 1905 revolutionists in Łódź,
hospitality, nowhere have I found such a warm detail from the Statute of Kalisz
atmosphere as in Łódź. Surely, to a large extent,
this is because of my childhood memories, as
each street, each house, each stone even is linked
to some vague memory.". A Szyk

Artur was an exceptionally talented child. As a
boy he was studying drawing and painting at Jakub
Kacenbogen's school in Łódź. It was his mother
who brought him there. We could assume that she
might have chosen the place because at the same
address as the artist's atelier (27 Spacerowa Street)
another Szyk family factory was located. Then,
young students of art went for lessons at
Piotrkowska Street. Artur went to school with older
boys, who later were to also become artists,
including Icchok Wincenty Brauner (1887–1944),
–
associated with the Jung Idysz group – during the
war, he was imprisoned in the Łódź ghetto and
murdered at Auschwitz – or Abraham Berman
(1876–1942). Łódź, Piotrkowska Street, late 19 century
–
th