Wiktoria Julia Jadwiga Goryńska (6 July 1902 – 29 March 1945) was a Polish painter and graphic artist.

Early life and education

Wiktoria Julia Jadwiga Goryńska was born on 6 July 1902 in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

to journalists Stanisława (née Markheim) and Maksymilian. She spent her childhood in Britain, and then returned with her parents to

, where she studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule (now the University of Applied Arts Vienna). In 1918 she moved to

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, where she continued her education at the School of Fine Arts under the supervision of Konrad Krzyżanowski. Then she lived in

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for some time, returning to Warsaw, where she again studied at the Szkole Sztuk Pięknych (the School of Fine Arts), and in the studios of Tadeusz Pruszkowski and Władysław Skoczylas. She worked in the medium of woodcuts.

Career

Goryńska belonged to Stowarzyszenia Artystów Grafików "RYT" the Association of Graphic Artists, an artistic group which ran between 1925 and 1939 in Warsaw with the aim of perfecting the art of woodcut. She was also a member of the Association of Polish Graphic Artists. In 1931, the first individual exhibition of Goryńska's work was held at Towarzystwie Zachęty Sztuk Pięknych (the Warsaw Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts). In 1932 she was awarded a gold medal at an exhibition in Florence for a Pieta woodcut and a silver medal for illustration in the book ''Sól polskiej ziemi'' (Salt on Polish soil) at the ''Art and Technology'' exhibition in Paris in 1937. She also wrote essays on art for both the Polish and foreign press, reviewed exhibitions and translated press texts. She gave lectures for

Polish Americans Polish Americans () are Americans who either have total or partial Polish ancestry, or are citizens of the Republic of Poland. There are an estimated 8.81 million self-identified Polish Americans, representing about 2.67% of the U.S. population, ...

on Polish Radio, the national public-service

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

broadcasting organisation. Goryńska created religious, fantasy and animalistic woodcuts, dealt with book graphics, and by September 1939 had created over a hundred works. The collection of the National Museum in Warsaw holds 44 of her woodcut blocks. The

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

holds 14 of her prints. Goryńska was one of the first women in Poland to practice

fencing Fencing is a combat sport that features sword fighting. It consists of three primary disciplines: Foil (fencing), foil, épée, and Sabre (fencing), sabre (also spelled ''saber''), each with its own blade and set of rules. Most competitive fe ...

and wrote articles about it for the press.

World War Two

During the Nazi occupation, she was active in the underground, using the pseudonym "Leti". From 1943, she was a liaison officer at the Main Headquarters of the

Home Army The Home Army (, ; abbreviated AK) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) established in the ...

, where she was assigned to Oddziału VI BiP of the Biuro Informacji i Propagandy (Division VI of BiP, the Information and Propaganda Office). She was a member of the editorial board of the Biuletyn Informacyjny. After the failure of the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...

, she was sent to a transit camp, and from there to the

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

in Ravensbrück, where she died.

References

External links

Works by Wiktoria Goryńska in the collection of the National Library �
wersja cyfrowa na Polona.pl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorynska, Wiktoria 1945 deaths 1902 births Polish translators Polish art critics Polish women art critics Polish printmakers Polish columnists Polish women columnists Polish illustrators Polish women illustrators Polish people who died in Nazi concentration camps People who died in Ravensbrück concentration camp Polish female fencers Artists from Warsaw Polish women radio presenters Home Army officers Woodcut designers Artists from Vienna 20th-century Polish journalists 20th-century Polish women journalists 20th-century Polish sportswomen