Alfred Lakos

Born in Székesfehérvár, Hungary, Alfred Lakos studied art in Budapest, Munich, and Paris. In France he made a name for himself as a caricaturist and illustrator, developing a following as an outspoken critic of antisemitism at the turn of the century in the pages of La Gazette, Lustige-Blätter, Pêle-Mêle, and Borsszem Jankó. He later focused his attention on painting Impressionist scenes of Jewish life. These brought him to the attention of Boris Schatz, who invited him to teach at the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts in Jerusalem. Lakos often addressed everyday scenes of Jewish religious life, particularly prayer, study, and mourning, as in Mourning Jews (1922). He painted scenes of suffering due to the antisemitic mass murder and violence against Jews across Eastern Europe, particularly war-torn Ukraine, in the 1914–1921 period. Surviving the Holocaust, Lakos continued to be a missionary for Jewish identity and pride, as evidenced in his Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (1947).