Zuni Maud

Zuni Maud was a Russian-American cartoonist, illustrator, puppeteer, painter, calligrapher, and satirist. He was born Yitzhok Moyed in Wasilków, in present-day Poland, then part of the Russian Empire. In 1905, he emigrated to New York with his brother and anglicized his name to Isaac Maud. He later took on the name Zuni, a Yiddishized version of his nickname, Sunny. 

In 1907, Maud joined a group of young Jewish intellectuals to found the Yiddish literary journal Di yugend (The Youth), followed by the satirical weekly Der kibitzer (one who provides unwanted advice or comment), later renamed Der groyser kundes (the Big Stick, the Prankster), in which many of his cartoons appeared. He also published cartoons and illustrations in other Yiddish publications, including children’s magazines. Maud edited the entertainment section of the Forverts newspaper from 1915 to 1920, painted murals and furniture, and produced posters, sets, and costumes for Yiddish theater. In 1925, he joined Yosl Cutler and Jack Tworkov to form the Modjacot (later Modicot) Spiel Theater, the first Yiddish puppet theater in the United States. 

Maud was immersed in the left-wing Yiddish intellectual world of his time. Much of his art, in its various media, expressed his communist politics, and he skewered bosses, landlords, and religious authorities.