Henryk Stażewski
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Henryk Stażewski (pronounced: ; 9 January 1894 – 10 June 1988) was a Polish painter, visual artist and writer. Stażewski has been described as the "father of the Polish avant-garde" and is considered a pivotal figure in the history of
constructivism Constructivism may refer to: Art and architecture * Constructivism (art), an early 20th-century artistic movement that extols art as a practice for social purposes * Constructivist architecture, an architectural movement in the Soviet Union in t ...
and
geometric abstraction Geometric abstraction is a form of abstract art based on the use of geometric forms sometimes, though not always, placed in non-illusionistic space and combined into non-objective (non-representational) compositions. Although the genre was popu ...
in Central and Eastern Europe. His career spanned seven decades and he was one of the few prominent Polish artists of the
interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...
who remained active and gained further international recognition in the second half of the 20th century. Stażewski rose to prominence as a co-founder of '' Blok'', ''
Praesens Praesens (from Latin: "present tense") was a Polish avant-garde artist and architect collective active in the years 1926–1930, which was formed following the dissolution of Blok. History The founders of the Praesens group included graduates ...
'', and ''
a.r. group The a.r. group ("revolutionary artists" or "real avant-garde") was an avant-garde art group set up by Władysław Strzemiński, Katarzyna Kobro, and Henryk Stażewski in 1929, who had previously been members of Blok and Praesens. Rather than ...
'', three interwar
artist collective An artist collective or art group or artist group is an initiative that is the result of a group of artists working together, usually under their own management, towards shared aims. The aims of an artist collective can include almost anything t ...
s which spearheaded the development of Polish
Constructivist art Constructivism is an early twentieth-century art movement founded in 1915 by Vladimir Tatlin and Alexander Rodchenko. Abstract and austere, constructivist art aimed to reflect modern industrial society and urban space. The movement rejected dec ...
. During the 1920s and 1930s, he became acquainted with and influenced by prominent European
avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
artists, including the Soviet
Suprematist Suprematism () is an early 20th-century art movement focused on the fundamentals of geometry (circles, squares, rectangles), painted in a limited range of colors. The term ''suprematism'' refers to an abstract art based upon "the supremacy of p ...
painters
Kazimir Malevich Kazimir Severinovich Malevich (
and
El Lissitzky El Lissitzky (, born Lazar Markovich Lissitzky , ; – 30 December 1941), was a Soviet Jewish artist, active as a painter, illustrator, designer, printmaker, photographer, and architect. He was an important figure of the Russian avant-garde, h ...
, the Dutch
de Stijl De Stijl (, ; 'The Style') was a Dutch art movement founded in 1917 by a group of artists and architects based in Leiden (Theo van Doesburg, Jacobus Oud, J.J.P. Oud), Voorburg (Vilmos Huszár, Jan Wils) and Laren, North Holland, Laren (Piet Mo ...
artists
Theo van Doesburg Theo van Doesburg (; born Christian Emil Marie Küpper; 30 August 1883 – 7 March 1931) was a Dutch painter, writer, poet and architect. He is best known as the founder and leader of De Stijl. He married three times. Personal life Theo van Do ...
and
Piet Mondrian Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), known after 1911 as Piet Mondrian (, , ), was a Dutch Painting, painter and Theory of art, art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He w ...
, as well as the French
Cubist Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...
painter and later founder of the
Abstraction-Création Abstraction-Création was a loose association of artists formed in Paris in 1931 to counteract the influence of the Surrealist group led by André Breton. Founders Theo van Doesburg, Auguste Herbin, Jean Hélion and Georges Vantongerloo starte ...
collective
Albert Gleizes Albert Gleizes (; 8 December 1881 – 23 June 1953) was a French artist, theoretician, philosopher, a self-proclaimed founder of Cubism and an influence on the School of Paris. Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger wrote the first major treatise on ...
, among others. As a member of the ''a.r. group'', Stażewski was also one of the key artists—alongside
Władysław Strzemiński Władysław Strzemiński (Polish pronunciation: ; ; 21 November 1893 – 26 December 1952) was a Polish painter, art theoretician, pedagogue, and soldier. He is regarded as a pioneer of Constructivist avant-garde of the 1920s and 1930s and the ...
and
Katarzyna Kobro Katarzyna Kobro (26 January 1898 – 21 February 1951) was a Polish avant-garde sculptor and a prominent representative of the Constructivist movement in Poland. A pioneer of innovative multi-dimensional abstract sculpture, she rejected A ...
—involved in the formation of Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź in 1931, the first museum in Europe dedicated to showcasing and collecting modern art. Stażewski's career was hindered by the outbreak of World War II and most of his work was destroyed during the
Nazi occupation of Poland Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequen ...
. After the end of the war in 1945, he returned to painting but faced the cultural constraints resulting from the imposition of
Stalinism Stalinism (, ) is the Totalitarianism, totalitarian means of governing and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), 1927 to 1953 by dictator Jose ...
and Socialist Realism in Poland. Following the cultural and political Thaw of 1956, Stażewski began working on abstract
relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...
sculptures, a medium that preoccupied him in the following decades and became his most recognized body of work. First exhibited in 1959, Stażewski's reliefs deployed diverse media and embraced various non-figurative visual vocabularies inspired by his interwar investigations into geometric abstraction. During the 1960s, still working behind the
Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...
, Stażewski helped facilitate unofficial cultural exchanges with numerous Western artists. In 1966, he initiated a years-long collaboration with the non-commercial gallery space Galeria Foksal in Warsaw, which played a critical role in the development of the Polish post-war avant-garde. Working alongside
Christian Boltanski Christian Liberté Boltanski (6 September 1944 – 14 July 2021) was a French sculptor, photographer, painter, and film maker. He is best known for his photography installations and contemporary French conceptual style. Early life Boltanski wa ...
,
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 ...
,
Allan Kaprow Allan Kaprow (August 23, 1927 – April 5, 2006) was an American performance artist, installation artist, painter, and assemblagist . He helped to develop the " Environment" and "Happening" in the late 1950s and 1960s, as well as their theory. ...
, Edward Krasiński,
Annette Messager Annette Messager (born 30 November 1943) is a French visual artist. She is known for championing the techniques and materials of outsider art. In 2005, she won the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Biennale for her artwork at the French pavilion, F ...
and other contemporary artists who exhibited at Foksal throughout the 1980s, Stażewski continued to cultivate international artistic connections with the West during the late communist period in Poland. Stażewski's works are included in permanent collections of museums in Europe and the United States. For his contributions to Central and Eastern European culture, the artist was awarded the 1972
Herder Prize The Herder Prize (), named after the German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), was a prestigious international prize awarded every year from 1964 to 2006 to scholars and artists from Central and Southeast Europe whose life and wor ...
.


Early life and work


Education and early work

Henryk Stażewski was born in Warsaw on 9 January 1894, then part of the
Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland (; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a monarchy in Central Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval period from 1025 until 1385. Background The West Slavs, West Slavic tribe of Polans (western), Polans who lived in what i ...
, a semi-autonomous state under the political control of the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
. He was one of the four children of Leonard Rafał Stażewski, the owner of a small foundry on Wspólna Street in central Warsaw, and Michalina (
née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...
Skibicka). He enrolled at the
Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw () is a public university of visual, visual arts and applied arts located in the Poland, Polish Warsaw, capital. The academy traces its history back to the Department of Arts founded at the Warsaw University in the ...
in 1913, where he studied under the prominent
portraitist A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better re ...
and
illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...
Stanisław Lentz. A surviving series of figurative
watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting metho ...
paintings from 1915—including nudes,
portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better r ...
s, and
landscapes A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...
—reveals the influence of Impressionist art in Stażewski's early work. Stażewski graduated from the academy in 1919, a year after Poland had regained its independence. His paintings at the time were inspired by Formizm, a Polish
avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
group that drew on
Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...
,
Futurism Futurism ( ) was an Art movement, artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such as the ...
, and
Expressionism 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 ...
and argued against naturalistic representation. In 1921, he participated in ''Wystawa Formistów'' (''The'' ''Formist Exhibition'') at the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Later that year, he showed his work—together with several early compositions by a fellow Polish painter
Mieczysław Szczuka Mieczysław Szczuka (19 October 1898 – 13 August 1927) was a Polish people, Polish avant-garde artist and mountaineer. Count Szczuka was born in Warsaw, Congress Poland, Kingdom of Poland, Russian Empire (now Poland) and studied painting in 19 ...
—at the Polish Artists' Club in Warsaw. In 1922, Stażewski was included in the ''Trzecia Wystawa Grupy Formistów F9'' (''The Third Formist Exhibition F9'') in Warsaw and a year later, in the ''Exhibition of New Art'' in
Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...
and the ''International Exhibition of New Art'' in
Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...
.


Polish Constructivism (1924–1930s)

The Vilnius exhibition in 1923, which included works by avant-garde artists from across Eastern Europe and Russia, is credited with introducing constructivist tendencies to Polish art. Among the participating artists who would have a significant impact on Stażewski's approach to artistic production was
Władysław Strzemiński Władysław Strzemiński (Polish pronunciation: ; ; 21 November 1893 – 26 December 1952) was a Polish painter, art theoretician, pedagogue, and soldier. He is regarded as a pioneer of Constructivist avant-garde of the 1920s and 1930s and the ...
, who had previously studied at two Constructivist collectives, INKhUK and Vkhutemas, in Moscow. While in Moscow, Strzemiński investigated various ways in which art could be harnessed to construct a new,
socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
society in the aftermath of the Great War (later known as World War I), recognizing the role of an artist as that of an engineer as well as a scientist aiding in the process of social transformation. For Stażewski, the connection between art and science was crucial, and he argued that "a painting's systematic quality connected it to contemporary civilization in a unilateral action—from science and machines to works of art". Through analyzing the constituent parts of their painting—that is, "space,
faktura The term of faktura () emerged in Russian art criticism before the First World War. David Burliuk used the term as a Russian equivalent of the French word "facture" which refers to the texture of the painted surface. Voldemārs Matvejs used the te ...
, line, and color"—the Constructivist artists were not completely beholden to the notions of intuition or talent, imbuing the process of art making with a sense of objectivity and collective labor. In 1924, following the Vilnius exhibition, Stażewski, working with Strzemiński and Strzemiński's wife
Katarzyna Kobro Katarzyna Kobro (26 January 1898 – 21 February 1951) was a Polish avant-garde sculptor and a prominent representative of the Constructivist movement in Poland. A pioneer of innovative multi-dimensional abstract sculpture, she rejected A ...
among other artists, co-founded '' Blok, or the Blok Group of Cubists Constructivists, and Suprematists'' (''Grupa Kubistow, Konstruktywistow i Suprematystow Blok''). Active until 1926, ''Blok'' became the first Polish Constructivist collective focused on gathering like-minded artists, designers, architects, and theorists to help improve the lives of ordinary citizens. Inspired by
leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politi ...
politics, Polish Constructivists associated with Blok had sought to use abstraction—applied to
functional architecture In architecture, functionalism is the principle that buildings should be designed based solely on their purpose and function. An international functionalist architecture movement emerged in the wake of World War I, as part of the wave of Modernis ...
,
furniture design Furniture refers to objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating ( tables), storing items, working, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Furniture is also used to hold objects ...
,
typography Typography is the art and technique of Typesetting, arranging type to make written language legibility, legible, readability, readable and beauty, appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, Point (typogra ...
or
graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art that involves creating visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdisciplinary branch of ...
—as a radical tool to foster social and political transformation, thus bringing art into the service of the people. In a text from 1924, Stażewski emphasized the important role that abstraction plays in constructing a modern society: At ''Blok'', Stażewski collaborated with
Henryk Berlewi Henryk Berlewi (Yiddish: הענריק בערלעװי; October 20, 1894 – August 2, 1967) was a Polish-French painter, graphic designer and art theorist, who is primarily remembered as an abstract artist who paved the way for optical art, but ...
and Szczuka who were considered leading figures in Polish avant-garde typography. After ''Blok'' was dissolved in 1926 due to internal disagreements, Stazewski became one of the co-founders of the avant-garde collectives ''
Praesens Praesens (from Latin: "present tense") was a Polish avant-garde artist and architect collective active in the years 1926–1930, which was formed following the dissolution of Blok. History The founders of the Praesens group included graduates ...
'' (1926–1929) and later ''
a.r. group The a.r. group ("revolutionary artists" or "real avant-garde") was an avant-garde art group set up by Władysław Strzemiński, Katarzyna Kobro, and Henryk Stażewski in 1929, who had previously been members of Blok and Praesens. Rather than ...
'' (1929–1936), both of which also became critical in defining the direction of Constructivism in Poland. As a member of these groups, Stażewski contributed to Polish Constructivism through typography,
posters A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text. ...
, theoretical writings (including publications for the ''Blok'' magazine published between 1923 and 1926), as well as
interior design Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. With a keen eye for detail and a Creativity, creative flair, an ...
and
furniture design Furniture refers to objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating ( tables), storing items, working, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Furniture is also used to hold objects ...
. Though predominantly idealistic and of limited impact on the Polish post-World War I society, the Constructivists completed some important architectural projects (''Praesens'', for instance, participated in the design of apartment buildings for the Warsaw Housing Cooperative in the Rakowiec district) and imbued the Polish avant-garde, up until then largely autonomous, with a sense of social commitment. In March 1927, Stażewski was among several Polish artists hosting the Russian
Suprematist Suprematism () is an early 20th-century art movement focused on the fundamentals of geometry (circles, squares, rectangles), painted in a limited range of colors. The term ''suprematism'' refers to an abstract art based upon "the supremacy of p ...
painter
Kazimir Malevich Kazimir Severinovich Malevich (
during his trip to Warsaw. A pioneer of
abstraction Abstraction is a process where general rules and concepts are derived from the use and classifying of specific examples, literal (reality, real or Abstract and concrete, concrete) signifiers, first principles, or other methods. "An abstraction" ...
, Malevich coined the term Suprematism to promote the supremacy of "non-objective art of 'pure feeling', unconcerned with representation of the visible world". Stażewski helped organize Malevich's exhibition at Hotel Polonia and invited the artist to visit his studio. Malevich's theories of painting had served as a crucial point of reference for Russian Constructivists and avant-garde artists across Central and Eastern Europe; he is said to have made a lasting impact on Stażewski in particular, who examined some of the key ideas of the movement regarding the autonomy of art and the superiority of non-objective visual forms in relation to his own artistic practice during the late 1920s and the early 1930s.


Relationships with European Avant-gardes

According to literary scholar Michał Wenderski, Stażewski "played an invaluable part by functioning as a ''
sui generis ( , ) is a Latin phrase that means "of its/their own kind" or "in a class by itself", therefore "unique". It denotes an exclusion to the larger system an object is in relation to. Several disciplines use the term to refer to unique entities. ...
'' liaison between Polish artists and the West" in the interwar period. While working with Constructivist groups in Poland during the 1920s, Stażewski traveled frequently and participated in several international exhibitions, including the 1926 ''Paris Exhibition of Theatrical Art'' and the New York ''Machine Age Exposition'' in 1927. He also developed and cultivated relationships with representatives of Western European avant-garde groups, including
Theo van Doesburg Theo van Doesburg (; born Christian Emil Marie Küpper; 30 August 1883 – 7 March 1931) was a Dutch painter, writer, poet and architect. He is best known as the founder and leader of De Stijl. He married three times. Personal life Theo van Do ...
and
Piet Mondrian Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), known after 1911 as Piet Mondrian (, , ), was a Dutch Painting, painter and Theory of art, art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He w ...
of the Dutch
De Stijl De Stijl (, ; 'The Style') was a Dutch art movement founded in 1917 by a group of artists and architects based in Leiden (Theo van Doesburg, Jacobus Oud, J.J.P. Oud), Voorburg (Vilmos Huszár, Jan Wils) and Laren, North Holland, Laren (Piet Mo ...
movement, as well as the French painter
Albert Gleizes Albert Gleizes (; 8 December 1881 – 23 June 1953) was a French artist, theoretician, philosopher, a self-proclaimed founder of Cubism and an influence on the School of Paris. Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger wrote the first major treatise on ...
. The influence of De Stijl can be found in Stażewski's work from around that time, including
oil painting Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the Binder (material), binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or oil on coppe ...
s titled ''Kompozycja'' (c. 1929–1930) and ''Kompozycja Fakturowa'' (''Textural Composition'') from 1931, which rely on interlocking vertical and horizontal shapes to form a geometrical grid. In 1929, Stażewski became a member of the ''
Cercle et Carré Cercle is French for ''circle''. It can refer to: * Circle (administrative division) * Cercle (French colonial), an administrative unit of the French Overseas Empire * Cercle (Mali), the Malian administrative unit ** The specific Cercles of Mal ...
'' and in 1931 joined ''
Abstraction-Création Abstraction-Création was a loose association of artists formed in Paris in 1931 to counteract the influence of the Surrealist group led by André Breton. Founders Theo van Doesburg, Auguste Herbin, Jean Hélion and Georges Vantongerloo starte ...
'', two Paris-based groups gathering international abstract painters. Also in 1931, as member of the ''a.r. group'', Stażewski co-organized the International Collection of Modern Art in
Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź Muzeum () is a Prague Metro station providing the interchange between Lines A and C, and serving the National Museum. It is located at the top end of Wenceslas Square. The Line C station was opened on 9 May 1974, with the first section of th ...
. Spearheaded by Strzemiński, the collection opened on 15 February 1931 with works by key modern artists from across Europe, including
Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...
,
Max Ernst Max Ernst (; 2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German-born painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and surrealism in Europe. He had no formal artistic trai ...
,
Hans Arp Hans Peter Wilhelm Arp (; ; 16 September 1886 – 7 June 1966), better known as Jean Arp in English, was a German-French sculptor, painter and poet. He was known as a Dadaist and an abstract artist. Early life Arp was born Hans Peter Wilhelm Ar ...
and
Kurt Schwitters Kurt Hermann Eduard Karl Julius Schwitters (20 June 1887 – 8 January 1948) was a German artist. He was born in Hanover, Germany, but lived in exile from 1937. Schwitters worked in several genres and media, including Dadaism, Constructivism (a ...
. By the second half of the 1930s, Stażewski returned to representational art while still exhibiting abstract paintings and graphic design in Poland and other European countries. He also supported himself financially through portrait commissions. During Hitler's
invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...
in early September 1939, the building which housed Stażewski's studio in Warsaw was bombed, destroying most of his work. Stażewski remained in Poland and lived under
Nazi occupation German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the government of Nazi Germany at ...
, first in
Szczekociny Szczekociny () () is a town on the Pilica (river), Pilica river, in Silesian Voivodeship, in southern Poland, with 3,612 inhabitants (2019). Even though Szczekociny administratively belongs to the Silesian Voivodeship, it is part of the historic r ...
(1943) and later in Radość (1945), having mostly abandoned artistic production during that period, except for several
caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, ...
s and landscapes, virtually none of which have survived till this day.


Post-war career


Stalinist Poland (1948–1956)

In 1945, shortly after the war ended, Stażewski moved to Warsaw and was hired as the head of the art studio at the Military Geographical Institute. He took an apartment on Piękna Street with the artists Jan Rogoyski and Maria Ewa Łunkiewicz-Rogoyska, a space that would become a nexus of Warsaw avant-garde artists and intellectuals in the following years. During the early post-war era, he returned to painting and experimented with various modernist styles, including biomorphic abstraction—which evokes forms and shapes found in nature—and semi-figurative compositions inspired by
Surrealism Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...
(evident, for instance, in the 1947 painting titled ''Escape''). In 1947, as a result of rigged legislative elections, the hardline Stalinist
Bolesław Bierut Bolesław Bierut (; 18 April 1892 – 12 March 1956) was a Polish communist activist and politician, leader of History of Poland (1945–1989), communist-ruled Poland from 1947 until 1956. He was President of the State National Council from 1944 ...
became President of Poland. Following the Unification Congress of the
Polish Workers' Party The Polish Workers' Party (, PPR) was a communist party in Poland from 1942 to 1948. It was founded as a reconstitution of the Communist Party of Poland (KPP) and merged with the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) in 1948 to form the Polish United W ...
and
Polish Socialist Party The Polish Socialist Party (, PPS) is a democratic socialist political party in Poland. It was one of the most significant parties in Poland from its founding in 1892 until its forced merger with the communist Polish Workers' Party to form ...
in December 1948, Poland was turned into a
satellite state A satellite state or dependent state is a country that is formally independent but under heavy political, economic, and military influence or control from another country. The term was coined by analogy to planetary objects orbiting a larger ob ...
of the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. Earlier that year, Stażewski had co-designed decorative glass panels for the large-scale ''Wystawa Ziem Odzyskanych'' (''Exhibition of Recovered Territories'')—a sweeping display celebrating the Polish post-war
annexation Annexation, in international law, is the forcible acquisition and assertion of legal title over one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. In current international law, it is generally held t ...
of parts of Germany—which had become a centerpiece of the early Stalinist propaganda and was held in the city of
Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...
between July and October 1948. Although fired from his position at the Institute in 1949, Stażewski was able to carefully navigate the new socio-political system, avoiding the fate of his fellow avant-garde collaborators, Strzemiński and Kobro, who had been accused of reactionary cultural activities and whose careers had been effectively destroyed by the emergent Stalinist regime. Soon, Stażewski turned to Socialist Realism—a Soviet figurative art doctrine reliant on idealized depictions of life under
socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
—that had been officially imposed by the communist regime in 1949. However, he had never fully committed to the naturalistic
academicism Academic art, academicism, or academism, is a style of painting and sculpture produced under the influence of European academies of art. This method extended its influence throughout the Western world over several centuries, from its origins i ...
expected of Soviet Socialist Realist artists. In 1950, Stażewski was named a member of the selection committee for the ''I Ogólnopolska wystawa plastyki'' (''First Nationwide Display of Plastic Arts''), the inaugural exhibition of Polish Socialist Realism organized at the
National Museum in Warsaw The National Museum in Warsaw (, MNW) is a national museum in Warsaw, one of the largest museums in Poland and the largest in the capital. It comprises a rich collection of ancient art ( Egyptian, Greek, Roman), counting about 11,000 pieces, an ...
. While taking on various part-time projects for the government including retouching official portraits of party members at the , Stażewski continued to organize regular clandestine gatherings for avant-garde artists in his Warsaw apartment, and wrote (at that time unpublished) texts about abstraction. The death of Stalin in 1953 and the subsequent political Thaw of 1956 precipitated the return of modernism. While Poland had become one of the first countries among the Soviet satellite states to embrace the Thaw, the cultural shift was a gradual process. Toward the end of the Stalinist regime, Stażewski and Łunkiewicz-Rogoyska were commissioned to paint a worker-themed realistic
mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...
at the new headquarters of state-controlled Metalexport company in Warsaw, which opened in 1954. In recognition for his artistic contributions to the Polish People's Republic, Stażewski received a Gold Cross of Merit, a medal awarded for distinguished contributions to the state, in 1955.


Reliefs (1956–1970s)

In 1955, Stażewski became a member of Klub Krzywego Koła (Crooked Circle Club) in Warsaw, an independent cultural initiative for avant-garde artists, writers, and intellectuals. In 1956, Stalin's successor
Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...
delivered his "
On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences" () was a report by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, made to the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on 25 Febr ...
" speech, which disavowed Stalinism and ushered in the political thaw. That year Stażewski joined the newly opened gallery space of the Crooked Circle Club where
Jerzy Nowosielski Jerzy Nowosielski (Polish: ; born 7 January 1923 – died 21 February 2011) was a Polish painter, graphic artist, scenographer, illustrator and Eastern Orthodox theologian. He is regarded among the greatest contemporary Polish icon painters ...
,
Alina Szapocznikow Alina Szapocznikow (; May 16, 1926 – March 2, 1973) was a Polish artist and Holocaust survivor. Recognized as one of the most important Polish sculptors of the post-war era, Szapocznikow utilized diverse and experimental mediums to investigate an ...
, Urszula Broll,
Stefan Gierowski Stefan Gierowski (21 May 1925 – 14 August 2022) was a Polish painter and an avant garde artist of post-war Poland. For many years he was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw where he earned numerous distinctions. He abandoned Rep ...
and other contemporary painters would also exhibit their work. Around 1956, Stażewski began exploring the
relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...
form as his medium. Using a variety of unorthodox materials including
plywood Plywood is a composite material manufactured from thin layers, or "plies", of wood veneer that have been stacked and glued together. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards, which include plywood, medium-density fibreboa ...
,
plexiglass Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is a synthetic polymer derived from methyl methacrylate. It is a transparent thermoplastic, used as an engineering plastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and bran ...
, cardboard, Masonite board and
copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...
, the artist deployed non-representational forms to construct three-dimensional reliefs on a horizontal pictorial surface. Stażewski's reliefs broke away from the traditional pictorial flatness and underscored the artist's interest in the tactile qualities of used materials, forging a new theoretical space with which to articulate color. Moreover, the artist's emphasis on tactility and materiality recalls the Russian Constructivist engagement with
faktura The term of faktura () emerged in Russian art criticism before the First World War. David Burliuk used the term as a Russian equivalent of the French word "facture" which refers to the texture of the painted surface. Voldemārs Matvejs used the te ...
, an intention to accentuate the work's physical qualities as a way to challenge traditional
illusionism Illusionism in art history means either the artistic tradition in which artists create a work of art that appears to share the physical space with the viewer"Illusionism," ''Grove Art Online''. Oxford University Press, ccessed 17 March 2008 or ...
in painting. File:Stazewski White on White No. 25 1963.jpg, ''White on White No. 25'', 1963 in which the artist created a monochromatic textural composition used oil paint and wood, recalling Constructivist engagement with faktura (
Buffalo AKG Art Museum The Buffalo AKG Art Museum, formerly known as the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, is an art museum located adjacent to Delaware Park-Front Park System, Delaware Park, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, New York, United States. The museum shows modern art a ...
) File:Stazewski Untitled 1966.jpg, ''Untitled'', 1966, aluminum, in 1964, Stażewski began making reliefs using copper and aluminum that highlighted the intrinsic visual properties of metal (private collection) File:Stazewski Relief nr 38 1969.jpg, ''Relief nr. 38'', 1969 illustrates Stażewski's continued reliance on simple geometric shapes to formulate the visual vocabulary of his polychromatic reliefs (private collection)
In 1959, Stażewski exhibited the reliefs for the first time during a solo show at Kordegarda Gallery in Warsaw. The exhibition space consisted of large, protruding panels designed by the Polish
scenographer A scenographer or scenic designer, also production designer, is a person who develops the appearance of a stage design, a TV or movie set, a gaming environment, a trade fair exhibition design or a museum experience exhibition design. The term ori ...
and architect Stanisław Zamecznik, contributing to what Stażewski called "relative movement," or an intention to increase the physical depth of the relief space to create a more immersive environment for the viewer. Well received by contemporary critics, the Kordegarda show helped to re-position Stażewski as a leading figure in the Polish contemporary art scene. According to art historian Marek Bartelik, Stażewski's commitment to abstraction in the post-war era speaks "to the persistence of the utopian belief in the transcendent power of abstraction: as a form of absolute universal expression". His inspirations during that time were manifold and art historian notes that Stażewski "did not succumb to any stylistic categories". At the same time, scholar Christina Lodder points to the continued relevance of Russian avant-garde art, including that of Malevich, whose ''Suprematist Composition: Aeroplane Flying'' from 1915 Stażewski had reproduced in 1962. Between 1960 and 1962, Stażewski held three exhibitions at the Crooked Circle Gallery in Warsaw. He continued to show his relief work, including a series called ''White Reliefs'' made in 1961. In August 1961, several of these were included in ''Fifteen Polish Painters'', a major exhibition of Polish contemporary art at the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
in New York, alongside works by
Wojciech Fangor Wojciech Bonawentura Fangor (pronounced: ) (15 November 1922 – 25 October 2015), also known as Voy Fangor, was a Polish Painting, painter, graphic artist, and Sculpture, sculptor. Described as "one of the most distinctive painters to emerge f ...
,
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 Jan Lebenstein, among others. Focused almost exclusively on non-representational art and organized by a major U.S. institution, the show championed abstraction as a symbolic manifestation of Poland's cultural and political freedom during the Cold War era. Also in 1961,
art dealer An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art. An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and builds relationsh ...
s Madeleine Chalette-Lejwa and Arthur Lejwa, the founders of Galerie Chalette in New York, featured Stażewski's work in a group exhibition, offering him an early exposure to the American market. Examining Stażewski's writings from that period, art historian Marta Zboralska argues that the artist saw himself as an "active contributor to the enquiry into abstraction throughout the 1960s and beyond". Distancing himself from the influences of Malevich and Mondrian, Stażewski stressed in an essay written in 1968 the impact of
Johannes Itten Johannes Itten (11 November 1888 – 25 March 1967) was a Swiss expressionist painter, designer, teacher, writer and theorist associated with the Bauhaus (''Staatliches Bauhaus'') school. Together with German-American painter Lyonel Feining ...
and
Josef Albers Josef Albers ( , , ; March 19, 1888March 25, 1976) was a German-born American artist and Visual arts education, educator who is considered one of the most influential 20th-century art teachers in the United States. Born in 1888 in Bottrop, Westp ...
, two
Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...
artists whose engagement with
color theory Color theory, or more specifically traditional color theory, is a historical body of knowledge describing the behavior of colors, namely in color mixing, color contrast effects, color harmony, color schemes and color symbolism. Modern color th ...
was influential in both Europe and the US. By the mid-1960s, Stażewski had begun using aluminum and copper for his relief work, shunning painted material in favor of the intrinsic color properties of metal. According to art historians Maja and Reuben Fawkes, the reliefs made of metal simulate "the effect of depth by rhythmically layering shapes and optical effects on the surface, exchanging visual determinism for the randomness of reflected light". In 1964, Kazimir Karpuszko, a Polish
expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. The term often refers to a professional, skilled worker, or student from an affluent country. However, it may also refer to retirees, artists and ...
art dealer, organized a show of Stażewski's work at Chicago's Contemporary Art Gallery, the artist's first solo exhibition in the United States and an opportunity to introduce his reliefs to the wider American public. In subsequent years, Stażewski's work was also shown at Marlborough-Gerson Gallery and Sidney Janis Gallery in New York. In Poland, several of Stażewski's works, including a large-scale geometric metal sculpture modeled after one of his abstract reliefs, were included in the First Biennial of Spatial Forms in Elbląg in 1965. By 1968, Stażewski had returned to
polychromatic Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery, or sculpture in multiple colors. When looking at artworks and a ...
relief compositions, often made with wood on Masonite board and painted over with acrylic, frequently juxtaposing simple geometrical figures in contrasting colors to achieve a sense of visually dynamic arrangement. Referring to his sustained engagement with color during a 1968 interview, the artist said: "I gradually move from cold to warm colors according to their wavelengths, from pure to grey, from light to dark, using vertical and horizontal combinations. This gives me an infinite number of variants".


Foksal Gallery

In 1966, Stażewski was one of the artists representing Poland at the XXXIII Venice Biennale, where his relief works received an honorable mention. Throughout the 1960s, Stażewski collaborated regularly with contemporary galleries in and outside of Poland. Key among them was his long-standing collaboration with Foksal Gallery, which he co-founded in 1966, a non-commercial art space in Warsaw that would play a key role in the development of Polish post-war avant-garde. Unlike traditional exhibition venues, Foksal revolved around robust collaboration between participating artists and was supposed to present displays that "problematized the artistic process itself" while keeping an "apparent distance from governmental endeavors to instrumentalize art", even though the gallery was publicly funded. Participating in the artistic program of Foksal provided Stażewski with an opportunity to exhibit his work in a more experimental space. He also continued to facilitate connections with international artists. Throughout the 1970s, he worked alongside Włodzimierz Borowski, Tadeusz Kantor, the American
happening A happening is a performance, event, or situation art, usually as performance art. The term was first used by Allan Kaprow in 1959 to describe a range of art-related events. History Origins Allan Kaprow first coined the term "happening" i ...
artist
Allan Kaprow Allan Kaprow (August 23, 1927 – April 5, 2006) was an American performance artist, installation artist, painter, and assemblagist . He helped to develop the " Environment" and "Happening" in the late 1950s and 1960s, as well as their theory. ...
(exhibited at Foksal in 1976), the French conceptual and installation artists
Christian Boltanski Christian Liberté Boltanski (6 September 1944 – 14 July 2021) was a French sculptor, photographer, painter, and film maker. He is best known for his photography installations and contemporary French conceptual style. Early life Boltanski wa ...
(1978) and Anette Messager (1978), and the American conceptualist
Lawrence Weiner Lawrence Charles Weiner (February 10, 1942December 2, 2021) was an artist born and raised in New York City. One of the central figures in the formation of Conceptual Art in the 1960s, Lawrence Weiner explored the potentials of language as a scu ...
(1979), among others. Outside of Foksal, he collaborated with the French conceptual artist and art theorist
Daniel Buren Daniel Buren (born 25 March 1938, in Boulogne-Billancourt) is a French conceptual artist, painter, and sculptor. He has won numerous awards including the Golden Lion for best pavilion at the Venice Biennale (1986), the International Award for ...
, who re-designed the exhibition space of the Paris-based ''Galerie 16'' in 1974 for Stażewski's show. Stażewski and Buren would later work together on a project at ''Galerie 1–36'', an experimental space active in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
from 1972 to 1976. He also developed a close artistic relationship with Edward Krasiński. He and Krasiński shared an apartment at Aleja Solidarnosci in Warsaw from 1970 until Stażewski's death in 1988. The space, which had served as a salon for Polish artists and intellectuals during the last three decades of communist rule in Poland, was later renamed the (Avant-garde Institute) and opened to the public in 2007.


Late career (1970s–1988)

Stażewski experimented with color and geometry in diverse visual and aesthetic registers throughout his career. In 1970, he participated in the art symposium ''Wrocław 70'' where he showcased ''Infinite Vertical Composition'' ''(9 Rays of Light in the Sky)'', an artwork made of colorful beams of light projected onto the night sky that released color from its previous pictorial confines. In 1972, the
Dallas Museum of Art The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) is an art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In the 1970s, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the A ...
included Stażewski in ''Geometric Abstraction, 1916–1942'', a survey show of geometric abstract art in the first four decades of the 20th century. In 1976, he was featured in ''Constructivism in Poland, 1923–1936: Blok, Praesens, a.r.'', an exhibition devoted to the history of Polish Constructivism organized at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, which traveled the same year to the
Detroit Institute of Arts The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is a museum institution located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. It has list of largest art museums, one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it cove ...
, the
Albright-Knox Gallery The Buffalo AKG Art Museum, formerly known as the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, is an art museum located adjacent to Delaware Park, Buffalo, New York, United States. The museum shows modern art and contemporary art. It is directly opposite Buff ...
in Buffalo, and the
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...
. That year, he was awarded the
Herder Prize The Herder Prize (), named after the German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), was a prestigious international prize awarded every year from 1964 to 2006 to scholars and artists from Central and Southeast Europe whose life and wor ...
for his contributions to the visual culture of Central and Eastern Europe. In the 1970s, Stażewski explored the visual properties of line. His paintings and drawings from that period show an investigation into the possibilities afforded by line, including the monochromatic grid. Geometry remained a critical reference point for the artist and he considered it an "innate measure in the eye of every man, allowing him to grasp relations and proportions". Over the next decade, Stażewski also continued to revitalize some of the visual forms present in his early tactile reliefs by moving back them onto a flat painterly surface. While his later compositions had become more intuitive, standing in contrast to the more scientifically determined compositional methods, the artist remained committed to examining the pictorial properties of color. Scholar Janina Ladnowska described Stażewski's planes of color as "flat, strong, homogeneous, clean, sometimes shining" and suggested that these polychromatic compositions made late in the artist's career cast doubt on the "rational" structures of his earlier work. During the late 1970s, Stażewski also became interested in creating environments, reimagining his paintings in three-dimensional spaces, informed by his interest in psychology. He continued to exhibit internationally throughout the 1980s, participating in solo and group shows at Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in
Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
, Monumentum Fine Arts in
Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
, as well as
Centre Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...
and Galerie Denise René in Paris. In 1980, Stażewski proposed a cultural exchange between Poland and the United States, inviting contemporary American artists to donate their works to the Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź and offering a collection of works from Polish artists to the
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's ori ...
. The project, coordinated by the Polish artist Anna Ptaszkowska, resulted in an exhibition titled "Une expérience muséographique d'échange entre artistes Pologne-USA: 1931-1982", organized in collaboration with the
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's ori ...
at Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in June 1982. Stażewski died in Warsaw on 10 June 1988, aged 94. His funeral was held on 17 June and he is interred at the
Powązki Military Cemetery Powązki Military Cemetery (; ) is an old military cemetery located in the Żoliborz district, western part of Warsaw, Poland. The cemetery is often confused with the older Powązki Cemetery, known colloquially as "Old Powązki". The Old Pową ...
in Warsaw.


Legacy

Owing to his multifaceted practice and a long-standing career, Stażewski has had an important influence on the history of Polish and European modern and contemporary art. He has been described as "the father of the Polish avant-garde", "one of the classic figures in the history of Eastern European Constructivism", an artist who "pioneered the classical avant-garde in the 1920s and 1930s", and "one of the most important" Polish artists to link the pre and post-war "Avant-garde tendencies". Stażewski's work is said to have "paved the way for the revitalization of geometric art" and has served as a source of inspiration for the younger generation of Polish postwar artists.
Magdalena Abakanowicz Magdalena Abakanowicz (; 20 June 1930 – 20 April 2017) was a Polish sculpture, sculptor and fiber artist. Known for her use of textiles as a sculptural medium and for outdoor installations, Abakanowicz has been considered among the most influen ...
, for instance, closely modeled her early textile works on Stażewski's reliefs and relied on the artist's use of "contrast as an organising principle". In 1976, critic
Hilton Kramer Hilton Kramer (March 25, 1928 – March 27, 2012) was an American art critic and essayist. Biography Early life Kramer was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts into a Jewish immigrant family, and was educated at Syracuse University, receiving a b ...
, referring to Stażewski's early constructivist work in his review of "Constructivism in Poland 1923‐1936" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, wrote: "In the vein of geometrical painting that seeks to maximize the optical effects of shifting grids and alternating textures, Henryk Stażewski's extraordinary composition of 1930‐31 in black, white and grays likewise sums up an ambition that has rarely been improved upon". A 1990 exhibition of his abstract works at
Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno The Atlantic Center for Modern Art () (CAAM) is a contemporary art museum in the Canary Islands, Spain. It is in Vegueta in Las Palmas, the capital city of Gran Canaria. The building was designed by the architect Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oiza ...
in
Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital city of the Canary Islands (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife) and the m ...
recognized Stażewski as a pioneer of
concrete art Concrete art was an art movement with a strong emphasis on geometrical abstraction. The term was first formulated by Theo van Doesburg and was then used by him in 1930 to define the difference between his vision of art and that of other abstract ar ...
, originally an offshoot of
Neoplasticism Neoplasticism or neo-plasticism, originating from the Dutch , is an avant-garde art theory proposed by Piet Mondrian in 1917 and initially employed by the De Stijl art movement. The most notable proponents of this theory were Mondrian and anoth ...
initiated in 1930 by the Dutch painter
Theo van Doesburg Theo van Doesburg (; born Christian Emil Marie Küpper; 30 August 1883 – 7 March 1931) was a Dutch painter, writer, poet and architect. He is best known as the founder and leader of De Stijl. He married three times. Personal life Theo van Do ...
, which later gained popularity in
Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
during the 1940s and 1950s. In 1994, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Stażewski's birth, Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź organized a major posthumous
retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in software development, popular culture, and the arts. ...
devoted to his oeuvre. In his review of the exhibition, critic and art historian Marek Bartelik wrote that, for Stażewski's Polish admirers, "his uncompromising stance serves today as a confirmation of their belief in the infinite depth and superiority of geometric abstraction". In 2009, Daniel Buren, with whom Stażewski had collaborated during the 1970s, designed a temporary display space for several of Stażewski's reliefs at the Muzeum Sztuki, titled ''Daniel Buren / Hommage à Henryk Stazewski. Cabane éclatée avec tissu blanc et noir, travail situé, 1985–2009'' and installed as an homage to the late artist. In 2015, Stażewski's ''Colored Relief'' (1963) was featured in ''Transmissions: Art in Eastern Europe and Latin America, 1960–1980'', a comprehensive survey exhibition organized at the Museum of Modern Art in New York that examined parallels between art in Eastern Europe and Latin America during the 1960s and 1970s.


Collections

Stażewski's works are included in the permanent collections of museums in Europe and the United States, including the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
and the
Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...
in New York,
Buffalo AKG Art Museum The Buffalo AKG Art Museum, formerly known as the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, is an art museum located adjacent to Delaware Park-Front Park System, Delaware Park, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, New York, United States. The museum shows modern art a ...
(formerly known as Albright–Knox Art Gallery), the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, Zachęta, the National Gallery of Art in Warsaw,
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Municipal Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen () is an art museum in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The name of the museum is derived from its two most important donors, Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans and Daniël George van Beuningen. The museum is located a ...
in Rotterdam,
Hungarian National Gallery The Hungarian National Gallery (also known as Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, ), was established in 1957 as the national art museum. It is located in Buda Castle in Budapest, Hungary. Its collections cover Hungarian art in all genres, including the w ...
in Budapest,
Kröller-Müller Museum The Kröller-Müller Museum () is a national art museum and sculpture garden, located in the Hoge Veluwe National Park in Otterlo in the Netherlands. The museum, founded by art collector Helene Kröller-Müller within the extensive grounds of ...
in
Otterlo Otterlo is a village in the municipality of Ede of province of Gelderland in the Netherlands, in or near the Nationaal Park De Hoge Veluwe. The Kröller-Müller Museum, named after Helene Kröller-Müller, is situated nearby and has the world ...
, the
Centre Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...
in Paris, and the
Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...
in London. Several of his geometric abstracts from the interwar period are on permanent display at the Neoplastic Room (Sala Neoplastyczna) at Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź. The design of the room was conceived by Władysław Strzemiński in 1948, inspired by interactions of primary colors typical of De Stijl movement, complemented by black, white and grey tones. The display was shut down in 1950 by the communist regime, until it was reconstructed based on surviving photographs. The exhibition space was expanded in 2010 to include a wider range of interwar and contemporary art from the museum's collection. In November 2022, Stażewski's 1969 ''Relief No. 8'' was sold for €1.03 million at
Sotheby's Sotheby's ( ) is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine art, fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...
in
Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
, becoming one of the highest prices paid at auction for a 20th-century Polish work of art.


Notes


Citations


Further reading

* ''Constructivism in Poland, 1923 to 1936'' (exh. cat., ed. H. Gresty and J. Lewinson; Cambridge, Kettle's Yard; Łódź, Mus. A.; 1984) * Mansbach, Steven. ''Modern Art in Eastern Europe: From the Baltic to the Balkans, ca. 1890–1939'' (Cambridge, 1999) * ''Central European Avant-gardes: Exchange and Transformation, 1910–1930'' (exh. cat., ed. T. Benson; Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2002) * Piotrowski, Piotr. ''In the Shadow of Yalta: Art and the Avant-Garde in Eastern Europe, 1945–1989'' (London, 2009) * ''Henryk Stażewski: Dzieła z lat 1923–1980'' (exh. cat., ed. W. Smużny and J. Ładnowska; Toruń, Office A. Exh., 1980) * Turowski, Andrzej. ''Konstruktywizm polski: Próba rekonstrukcji nurtu 1921–1934'' (Wrocław, 1981) * Kowalska, Bozena. ''Henryk Stażewski'' (Warsaw, 1985)


External links


Henryk Stażewski
at Culture.pl
Henryk Stażewski
in Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw {{DEFAULTSORT:Stazewski, Henryk 20th-century Polish painters 20th-century Polish male artists 1894 births 1988 deaths Herder Prize recipients Polish male painters Polish abstract painters Constructivism (art) Recipients of the Medal of the 10th Anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland