Untitled2015Sheet: 13 1/2 x 13 1/2 " (34.3 x 34.3 cm)Colored pencil, felt-tip pen, newspaper clipping, tape on paper (double-sided)Gift of Elan Golod2025.12.2 a,b01684409331Nathan HiluDrawingsNew YorkNew YorkUnited StatesNew YorkWorks on PaperAmerican Folk Art MuseumNew YorkObject information is a work in progress and may be updated
with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art
Museum welcomes additional information.
To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.orgNathan Hilu once wrote: “I’m a rememberer. I’m like Marcel Proust. Most of my work is of the past.” For the little-known artist, artmaking was a personal space for remembrance and reconstitution. Though he drew scenes inspired by his traditional Jewish upbringing, he is mainly known for his works referring to his time guarding high-level Nazi prisoners being prosecuted for war crimes during the Nuremberg trials (1945–1946). In a series of obsessively repeated scenes, Hilu depicted himself in his role as a U.S. Army guard, interacting with figures such as Hermann Göring, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, and others. Energetically and swiftly sketched in Sharpie on paper, his works are bold, passionate, and intense, searing with righteous indignation. They take the form of stand-alone works or bound notebooks. Recently featured in the lauded documentary film Nathan-ism (2023, currently available to stream on Apple TV), Nathan Hilu was a true visionary. “Not only great men make history,” Hilu said. “A little man could make history too. I made history.”20152015 2025 12 2a b Object information is a work in progress and may be updated
with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art
Museum welcomes additional information.
To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.orgNathan Hilu once wrote: “I’m a rememberer. I’m like Marcel Proust. Most of my work is of the past.” For the little-known artist, artmaking was a personal space for remembrance and reconstitution. Though he drew scenes inspired by his traditional Jewish upbringing, he is mainly known for his works referring to his time guarding high-level Nazi prisoners being prosecuted for war crimes during the Nuremberg trials (1945–1946). In a series of obsessively repeated scenes, Hilu depicted himself in his role as a U.S. Army guard, interacting with figures such as Hermann Göring, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, and others. Energetically and swiftly sketched in Sharpie on paper, his works are bold, passionate, and intense, searing with righteous indignation. They take the form of stand-alone works or bound notebooks. Recently featured in the lauded documentary film Nathan-ism (2023, currently available to stream on Apple TV), Nathan Hilu was a true visionary. “Not only great men make history,” Hilu said. “A little man could make history too. I made history.”