Margit Sielska-Reich ( uk, Марія Сельська, born 26 May 1900 Kolomyja – 3 February 1980

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

) was a Polish-Ukrainian painter who worked in Lviv. The daughter of Laura and Isaak Reich, she began studying painting at the Free Academy of Fine Arts in Lviv with Leonard Podhorodecki, Feliks Michał Wygrzywalski and Edward Pietsch. From 1920 to 1922, she continued her studies at the

Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków The Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków ( pl, Akademia Sztuk Pięknych im. Jana Matejki w Krakowie, usually abbreviated to ''ASP''), is a public institution of higher education located in the centre of Kraków, Poland. It is the oldest Pol ...

with

Ignacy Pieńkowski Ignacy Pieńkowski (1877–1948) was a Polish painter and pedagogue active primarily in Krakow. He was the brother of the prominent physicist Stefan Pieńkowski. In 1892, he was educated at an Art school in Warsaw under Wojciech Gerson. He conti ...

, Władysław Jarocki and Henryk Kunzek. From 1925, she studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and then in Paris in the studios of Fernand Léger and Amédée Ozenfant. Léger's works in particular influenced her painting. In Paris, she met her future husband, a Lviv painter, Roman Sielski. In 1929, she returned with him to Lviv. Together with Roman, she was a co-founder of the Association of Artists and Designers " artes ". From 1930 to 1932, they participated in twelve exhibitions in Lviv, Tarnopol, Stanisławów, Warsaw, Kraków and Łódź. The influence of surrealism appeared in her paintings. She collaborated with the left-wing monthly " Sygnały ". In 1937, she visited Paris again. She spent the period of

World War 2 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

in Lviv. In 1942 she was arrested by the Gestapo, with her father and brother and his wife, and was taken to the

Lviv ghetto Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in Western Ukraine, western Ukraine, and the List of cities in Ukraine, seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is o ...

. She survived hiding in the studio of the painter Sascha Wynnytzky . After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, she stayed with her husband in Lviv. She became a member of the art group Tow, and took part in exhibitions in

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

and

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, most of them being portraits and natural landscapes. Most of her works are in Lviv in museums and private collections. Upon her death she was buried in Lyczakowski Cemetery.

Work

Margit Sielska-Reich specialized in portraiture and painting landscapes. Much of her work was shown in exhibitions, and still is held in them to this day.

References

1900 births 1980 deaths 20th-century Polish painters 20th-century Ukrainian painters People from Zambrów County Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts alumni Polish women painters Ukrainian women painters {{Ukraine-painter-stub