Cartoon of a mohel with big scissors approaching a toddler
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 11.750 inches (29.845 cm) | Width: 10.125 inches (25.718 cm) | Depth: 0.250 inches (0.635 cm)
Creator(s)
- Peter Ehrenthal (Compiler)
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 paperwork 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
Hand drawn cartoon poking fun at the brit milah, the Jewish rite of circumcision, the removal of the penis foreskin. The picture shows an Orthodox Jewish man with oversize scissors making clipping gestures to an oversize baby. The man is presumably a mohel, a person qualified to perform the ritual. The brit milah is generally performed when a male child is eight days old, but it is a procedure that all males, including converts, must undergo to become a Jew. The work was crafted by an unknown person, likely in early 20th century America. The paperwork is one of 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
Handcrafted picture consisting of a sheet of cardboard with a handdrawn ink cartoon of an Orthodox Jewish man on a red field with a second handdrawn cartoon of a baby drawn in ink on thick brown cardboard glued onto the lef of the sheet. The baby is mounted on thick cardboard to add depth. The man has a bald crown and long beard and wears a black skullcap and robe with circular glasses on his large, pointed nose. He hides an oversize pair of scissors behind his back and makes a pinching motion with his right thumb and forefinger at the baby. The oversize, pudgy, naked brown baby looks over his shoulder, the whites of his eyes large with fear, his hands clasped over his genitals. Four strips of balsa wood are stapled around the front as a frame. The top strip has 2 holes threaded with a red plastic lace, with a metal hanging loop on the back.
Subjects
- Circumcision in art.
- Jews--Social life and customs--Caricatures and cartoons.
- Jews--Pictorial works.
- Jews--United States--Caricatures and cartoons.
- Caricatures and cartoons--Jews.
Genre
- Object
- Art