65 Portrait of Miksa Szabolcsi

Photographer: 

Budapest, 1938

Gift of the Pest Israelite Community, 1938                                                                                                                 

‘The Hungarian Jewish Museum (...) in its historic portrait gallery collects the pictures of those who belonged to the Jewish community and performed immortal services to Hungarian motherland. (...)Our historical portrait gallery aims to use our great figures as an example to our youth’. The compilation of the portrait gallery of the Jewish Museum was intentional and Miksa Szabolcsi’s (1857–1915) portrait was painted in line with this concept. As the editor of the bi-weekly Jewish political paper, Egyenlőség (Equality), he was an opinion leader in Jewish public life. His paper reported about the blood libel of Tiszaeszlár, urged the acceptance of the Jewish religious community and first voiced the need to found a Hungarian-Jewish Museum. More than twenty years after his death, his portrait was painted on the basis of a photograph with financial support from the Pest Israelite Community.