The Great Painters

Henryk Stażewski

- avant-garde apostle

Henryk Stażewski
No 36 - 1975, Source: http://cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl

HENRYK STAŻEWSKI

(1894-1988)

An extremely colourful figure, "a gentleman among painters", an authority for the next generations of artists - he was a man-institution, a "classic of modernity", a living legend of Polish avant-garde. Throughout his long and creative life he maintained his youthful vitality and fantasy. He was faithful to geometry, although he was not afraid of brave changes. He has been constantly expanding the language abstraction with new problems: space, color, movement.

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PIONEER OF THE AVANT-GARDE

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CO-CREATOR OF THE GEOMETRIC ABSTRACTION TREND

DESIGNER OF SCENERY AND FURNITURE

HENRYK STAŻEWSKI

1894

(9 January) Henryk Stażewski, son of Leonard (owner of a small foundry of artistic products made of non-ferrous metals), was born in Warsaw, the youngest of four siblings.

1920

graduated from Professor Stanisław Lentz (1861-1920) at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts  

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1920-1939

in the interwar years, Henryk Stażewski created several dozen residential interiors "in neoplastic arrangement", painted wall decorations of cinemas, cafés, offices

1924

founded with his friends Mieczysław Szczuka (1898-1927), Teresa Żarnower (1895-1950), Władysław Strzemiński (1893-1952) and Katarzyna Kobro (1898-1951) an avant-garde group „Blok”

1925

he went to Paris, established contacts with Mondrian (1872-1944), Seupbor, Vantongerloo and van Doesburg (1883-1931)

1926

became a member of the "Praesens" group. Henryk Stażewski played an important role in editing the "Blok" and "Praesens" journals, which had a sensational, innovative graphic layout and brought theories of the leading representatives of the avant-garde closer to readers. The periodicals and subsequent volumes of "Praesens"Libraries were a unique phenomenon on an international scale, a bridge between the experiences of the eastern and western avant-garde.

1929

during his next stay in Paris he took part in organizing the group "Cercle et Carre"

Henryk Stażewski
Relief 18, 1965, Source: http://cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl

1930-1932

he became involved in the collection of works for the International Collection of Modern Art in Łódź and joined the international group "Abstraction-Creation".

1939

The outbreak of war, in September, during the bombardment of Warsaw, all the painter's creative output was lost. During the war, Henryk Stażewski made a living by painting portraits and landscapes and worked on the restoration of the church in Szczekociny. After the war, he returned to Warsaw and started all over again.

1955

the individual exhibition at the Warsaw Writers' Union became an important manifestation of the avant-garde after the Socialist Realist period

1965

was one of the inspirers of the creation of the avant-garde Foksal Gallery, in the wing of Warsaw's Zamoyski Palace

1966

took part in the XXXIII Venice Biennale, where he received an "honorary mention".

1972

he was awarded the Gottfried Herder Prize

1988

In January, he participated in the birthday opening at the Zapiecek Gallery. Henryk Stażewski died on June 10th in Warsaw, at the age of 94.

Interesting facts:

Atelier
Henryk Stażewski did not start a family, but for years he lived with friends: Mewa, a painter Maria Ewa Łunkiewicz-Rogoyska (1894-1867) and her husband, whom he met back in Parisian times. After their death, painter Edward Krasiński moved into Stażewski's studio. The atelier on the 11th floor at 64 Świerczewskiego Street, overlooking all of Warsaw and the Palace of Culture, was a real artistic salon of the capital.
With passion
The painter lived with fantasy until the end: he wore wonderful, patterned ties, photographed himself in a striped dressing gown against the background of paintings, painted furniture, his own bamboosh and the shoes of his friends in crazy coloured stripes.
Foksal
He was one of the initiators of the Foksal Gallery - a non-commercial, avant-garde gallery of authors. He remained the gallery's spiritual and artistic patron until the end of his life. His exhibitions in this intimate interior had an unusual, carefully thought-out composition - paintings were hung in the space, on the ceiling, creating an environment - which one entered like the middle of a painting.
90 candles
When hearing problems made it difficult for Henryk Stażewski to contact his surroundings, he gave his friends golden thoughts and anecdotes written on small cartels. On his 90th birthday, the friends lit 90 candles in his studio.
Henryk Stażewski

Composition No 5, 1956, Source: http://cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl