Piotr Abraszewski (June 29, 1905 – June 9, 1996) was a Polish painter born in

Zamość Zamość (; yi, זאמאשטש, Zamoshtsh; la, Zamoscia) is a historical city in southeastern Poland. It is situated in the southern part of Lublin Voivodeship, about from Lublin, from Warsaw. In 2021, the population of Zamość was 62,021. ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. From 1928 to 1934 he studied at the

Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw ( pl, Akademia Sztuk Pięknych w Warszawie) is a public university of visual arts and applied arts located in the Polish capital. The Academy traces its history back to the Department of Arts founded at the Warsaw U ...

with Professor M. Kotarbinski, and in 1935 he became Assistant Professor at the Academy. Between 1936 and 1939 he taught at the Academy and in other

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

schools.

World War II

When Nazi Germany attacked Poland on September 1, 1939, German Nazis began rounding up and killing the local

intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the in ...

(see:

Operation Tannenberg Operation Tannenberg (german: Unternehmen Tannenberg) was a codename for one of the anti-Polish extermination actions by Nazi Germany that were directed at the Poles during the opening stages of World War II in Europe, as part of the ''Generalplan ...

) and forbade all higher education except for vocational ("useful") training. Abraszewski survived five different Nazi

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

s, including the

Wildflecken Wildflecken is a municipality in the Bad Kissingen district, at the border of northwestern Bavaria and southern Hesse. In 2005, its population was 3,285; the postal code is 97772 (US Forces used APO NY 09026 until July 15, 1991, when APO/FPO/DPO ...

Labor Camp and

Mauthausen Mauthausen was a Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with nearly 100 further subcamps located throughout Austria and southern German ...

, where he made minute sketches for the administration. Unwilling to return to Communist-ruled Poland 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 ...

, Abraszewski spent several years in Polish

Displaced Persons camp A refugee camp is a temporary Human settlement, settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for interna ...

s in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

where he taught art to refugees. In 1949, Abraszewski arrived in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

with his wife who also graduated from Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, and who also survived Nazi concentration camps. Piotr Abraszewski painted scenes of San Francisco in

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

and

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

. It was Piotr Abraszewski’s dream to paint

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

es in churches and public buildings. In the mid-1950s he worked as a commercial artist at The Emporium. He was a member of the Western Artists Society. Several of his paintings were exhibited at the

M. H. de Young Memorial Museum ( ; ; pl. ; ; 1512, from Middle French , literally "my lord") is an honorific title that was used to refer to or address the eldest living brother of the king in the French royal court. It has now become the customary French title of resp ...

Golden Gate Park Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, United States, is a large urban park consisting of of public grounds. It is administered by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department, which began in 1871 to oversee the development ...

. When Mr. Abraszewski became a member of the Polish Arts and Culture Foundation The Polish Arts and Culture Foundation
(established in 1966 in San Francisco), he participated in historical exhibits, created hand-made signs still in use today and, with encouragement of the Foundation, exhibited his work. He painted scenes of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

as well as a series of oils and watercolors of San Francisco. Several years before Mr. Abraszewski fell ill, ten of his favorite paintings were photographed and produced as postcards. Mr. Piotr Abraszewski died in 1992 (his wife preceded him in death by several years). In his

will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...

, Piotr Abraszewski donated his entire art collection to the Polish Arts and Culture Foundation.
/ref> Some of these works are now in private collections.

References

External links

Elżbieta Gnyp: Piotr Abraszewski (1905-1996)
listed in Table of Contents of the Zamojski Kwartalnik Kulturalny 2 (103) 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Abraszewski, Piotr 1905 births 1996 deaths 20th-century Polish painters 20th-century Polish male artists Fresco painters Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw alumni Modern painters Polish male painters

World War II

See also

References

External links