Bronze bust of a bourgeois Jewish businessman

Identifier
irn538232
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2016.184.136
Level of Description
Item
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

overall: Height: 4.625 inches (11.748 cm) | Width: 2.750 inches (6.985 cm) | Depth: 2.750 inches (6.985 cm)

Creator(s)

Biographical History

The Katz Ehrenthal Collection is a collection of more than 900 objects depicting Jews and antisemitic and anti-Jewish propaganda from the medieval to the modern era, in Europe, Russia, and the United States. The collection was amassed by Peter Ehrenthal, a Romanian Holocaust survivor, to document the pervasive history of anti-Jewish hatred in Western art, politics and popular culture. It includes crude folk art as well as pieces created by Europe's finest craftsmen, prints and periodical illustrations, posters, paintings, decorative art, and toys and everyday household items decorated with depictions of stereotypical Jewish figures.

Archival History

The bust was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by the Katz Family.

Acquisition

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Katz Family

Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

Scope and Content

Bronze bust with a caricatured depiction of a Jewish man in a suit, labelled Herr V. Mayer, with exaggerated Jewish facial features. This bust is one of the more than 900 items in the Katz Ehrenthal Collection of antisemitic artifacts and visual materials.

Conditions Governing Access

No restrictions on access

Conditions Governing Reproduction

No restrictions on use

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Cast bronze bust of a middle aged man, with a bald crown, thick, curly hair and sideburns. He looks straight ahead with a smug, happy expression. He has plump cheeks and stereotypically Jewish facial features, perhaps exaggerated: heavy, arched eyebrows, deepset hooded eyes, a very big nose, and thick lips. The front details include a bowtie and a buttoned collared shirt, with lapels from a vest and a jacket. The name, Herr V. Mayer, is in a panel across the front. The bottom is smooth with a thimble shaped support attached to the top of pedestal with a short column that narrows than expands into raised circular base.

Subjects

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.