Stanislav "Stacha" Halpern (20 October 1919 – 28 January 1969) was a Polish Australian painter and sculptor. Following the

Nazi invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week afte ...

in 1939, Halpern emigrated to Australia. A decade later he became a naturalised Australian citizen.Palmer, Sheridan (March 2010)
Stacha Halpern 1919-1969
Charles Nodrum Gallery. Retrieved on 6 March 2011. Based in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

for much of his early career, Halpern painted bold semi-abstract works of street life. Later he travelled throughout Europe and experimented with pure abstraction and

expressionistic Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

portraiture. Australian artist and friend

Arthur Boyd Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd (24 July 1920 – 24 April 1999) was a leading Australian painter of the middle to late 20th century. Boyd's work ranges from impressionist renderings of Australian landscape to starkly expressionist figuration, ...

described Halpern's work as "original, vigorous and always arresting". McCulloch, Alan; McCulloch, Susan. ''Encyclopedia of Australian Art''. Melbourne:

Miegunyah Press Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) is the book publishing arm of the University of Melbourne. History MUP was founded in 1922 as Melbourne University Press to sell text books and stationery to students, and soon began publishing books itself. ...

, 2006. , p. 495 Paintings, sculptures and pottery by Halpern are held in several of Australia's public collections including the

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

, the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

and the

Art Gallery of South Australia The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...

References

External links

Stacha Halpern biography and artworks
at th
Charles Nodrum Gallery
* Peter Timms, 'Halpern, Stanislaw (Stacha) (1919–1969)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/halpern-stanislaw-stacha-10400/text18429, published first in hardcopy 1996, retrieved 4 January 2015. 1919 births 1969 deaths Artists from Melbourne Australian Jews Australian people of Polish-Jewish descent Polish emigrants to Australia Jewish painters Jewish sculptors Modern painters Naturalised citizens of Australia Australian potters 20th-century Australian sculptors 20th-century ceramists {{Australia-sculptor-stub