Maria Jarema (24 November 1908 – 1 November 1958) was a Polish painter, sculptor, scenographer and actress.

Life and career

She was born on 24 November 1908 in

Staryi Sambir Staryi Sambir (, ) is a city in Sambir Raion, Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine, close to the border with Poland. Staryi Sambir hosts the administration of Staryi Sambir urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Its population is approximatel ...

(Polish: ) in the

Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria,, ; pl, Królestwo Galicji i Lodomerii, ; uk, Королівство Галичини та Володимирії, Korolivstvo Halychyny ta Volodymyrii; la, Rēgnum Galiciae et Lodomeriae also known as ...

(currently Ukraine). In the years 1929–1935, she studied sculpture at the

Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts 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 ...

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

, under supervision of

Xawery Dunikowski Xawery Dunikowski (; 24 December 1875 – 26 January 1964) was a Polish sculptor and artist, notable for surviving Auschwitz concentration camp, and best known for his Neo-Romantic sculptures and Auschwitz-inspired art. Biography Dunikowski w ...

. In 1930, she co-founded the

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

, radical left Kraków Group. Before the outbreak of

World War II 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 ...

, she mostly dealt with sculpture but after the war she focused on painting. Her works were mainly

abstract painting Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19t ...

s. Since 1951, she created monotypes. Using this printmaking technique and sometimes combining it with

oil paint Oil paint is a type of slow-drying paint that consists of particles of pigment suspended in a drying oil, commonly linseed oil. The viscosity of the paint may be modified by the addition of a solvent such as turpentine or white spirit, and va ...

s and distemper, she created her most famous cycles of paintings – (Penetrations) and (Rhythms). Her works show a great fascination with the human shape and its place in space as well as the depiction of movement in painting. Balancing between figurative displays and abstract signs is also a distinctive feature of her paintings. She was one of the founders of the avant-garde theatre ''Cricot'' (1933–1938) alongside Józef Jarema, Henryk Gotlib and Zbigniew Pronaszko. She is also known for her artistic collaboration with

Tadeusz Kantor Tadeusz Kantor (6 April 1915 – 8 December 1990) was a Polish painter, assemblage and Happenings artist, set designer and theatre director. Kantor is renowned for his revolutionary theatrical performances in Poland and abroad. Laureate of ...

and his

experimental theatre Experimental theatre (also known as avant-garde theatre), inspired largely by Wagner's concept of Gesamtkunstwerk, began in Western theatre in the late 19th century with Alfred Jarry and his Ubu plays as a rejection of both the age in particular ...

Cricot 2 Cricot 2 was a Polish experimental theatre company based in Kraków. It was founded in 1955 by the renowned theatre director, professional painter and assemblage artist, avantgarde set designer and art theorist Tadeusz Kantor, with artwork in the ...

'' as well as Adam Polewka's

puppet theatre Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. Such a performan ...

. Her paintings have been exhibited in a number of museums in Poland including the

Zachęta The Zachęta National Gallery of Art ( Polish: ''Zachęta Narodowa Galeria Sztuki'') is a contemporary art museum in the center of Warsaw, Poland. The Gallery's chief purpose is to present and support Polish contemporary art and artists. With numer ...

National Gallery of Art. In 2018, her painting (Forms) was sold at an

auction An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...

for over 1 million zlotys (ca. $270,000), which made it the most expensive painting by a female artist sold in Poland at the time. In 2019, Agnieszka Dauksza published a

Nike Award The Nike Literary Award ( pl, Nagroda Literacka „Nike") is a literary prize awarded each year for the best book of a single living author writing in Polish and published the previous year. It is widely considered the most important award fo ...

-nominated book focusing on the life of Jarema and her artistic legacy.

Personal life

She was a sister of painter Józef Jarema and actor Władysław Jarema – the founder of the Groteska Theatre in

. She married novelist and short story writer

Kornel Filipowicz Kornel Filipowicz (27 October 1913 – 28 February 1990) was a Polish novelist, poet and screenwriter, most notable for his Short story, short stories. Works (selection) Poetry * ''Mijani'' (''The Ones Passed By'', 1943) * ''Powiedz to słowo'' ( ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jarema, Maria 1908 births 1958 deaths 20th-century Polish painters Polish women painters Polish sculptors Artists from Kraków Sibling artists Polish women sculptors 20th-century painters 20th-century Polish women artists

Life and career

Personal life

See also

References