"Esther Accusing Haman" Lot no. 754
By Willy Pogany 1882-1955
1916 (Estimated)
13.00" x 8.50"
Watercolor on Paper
Signed Lower Right
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Story illustration for "Queen Esther's Feast," published in the book Bible Stories to Read and Tell: 150 Stories from the Old Testament with References to the Old and New Testaments, selected and arranged by Frances Jenkins Olcott (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1916).
The published image is captioned: "Esther Accusing Haman"
The Book of Esther recounts the tale of a valiant Jewish woman who, through her beauty and wisdom, ascended to become Queen of Persia under King Ahasuerus. When the king's advisor, Haman, devised a plot to exterminate the Jewish people, Esther, aided by her cousin Mordecai, persuaded the king to overturn the decree, thus averting their destruction. The Jewish holiday of Purim, as detailed in the Book of Esther, commemorates this deliverance and Esther's crucial role in safeguarding her people within a foreign realm.
Willy Pogany's illustration masterfully captures the dramatic intensity of Esther's plea to the King, visually underscored by her accusatory gesture, as she points a condemning finger towards Haman, revealing his genocidal scheme. A Hungarian artist of remarkable versatility, Pogany was a prominent figure during the Golden Age of Illustration, celebrated for his exquisite work on numerous books, notably The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. His signature Art Nouveau style, characterized by its seamless fusion of mythological and natural elements within intricate drawings and dreamlike watercolors, solidified his reputation as a master illustrator.
Pogany's artistic vision extended beyond the printed page. During his time in New York City, he created captivating stage designs for the Metropolitan Opera, and later, in Hollywood, he produced celebrity portraits and set designs before returning to New York. This diverse experience and versatility is reflected in the illustration's composition, where the stylized spatial arrangement and the dynamic foreground action evoke the visual language of theatrical production, despite its function as a book illustration.
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See all original artwork by Willy Pogany
ABOUT THE ARTIST
William Andrew (Willy) Pogany was a native of Hungary and his first studies in Budapest and Paris were in engineering. Success in caricaturing led him to pursue and art career, first in London and then in America. His influences were the Oriental artists and illuminated books, and much of his career was devoted to book illustration.
Among his many successes were The Rubaiyat, The Kasidah, The Children’s Book of Northern Myths, The Witch’s Kitchen, The Frenzied Prince, Sonnets from the Portuguese, Fairy Flowers, Forty-Four Turkish Fairy Tales, Tales of the Persian Genii, A Treasury of Verse for Little Children, Stories to Tell the Littlest Ones, Hungarian Fairy Book, and Gulliver’s Travels. He also painted murals, did etchings, designed stage settings, exhibited widely, and was a favorite in Hearst’s magazines.