Jonasz Stern

Galeria Zapiecek, Warsaw
Purchased from the above in 1995

In the 1930s Stern created politically and socially engaged graphic works and also experimented with Cubism and Abstraction in painting. In the present oil, painted circa 1930, Stern builds his own world composed of half-abstract forms and undefined shapes floating in space. Later in his artistic career he began reflecting on life and its transience. He arranged found objects - for example crunched‑up fabric, animal and fish bones, stones, netting– into surreal compositions.

Stern studied privately in Lviv and then the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, where he lived from 1928. In 1933 with other artists he founded the artistic association Grupa Krakowska. The group practiced modern art in line with trends in cubism, abstraction and expressionism. After the outbreak of World War II he was imprisoned in a ghetto in Lviv after the city was occupied by the Nazis in 1941. He was sent to a death camp in Bełżec however escaped during the transport. He fled to Hungary in 1943 and only returned to Krakow in 1945. Stern’s experiences during the war greatly enhanced his creativity and drove an unwavering desire to teach and be involved in artistic groups. Stern lectured at the Academy of Fine Arts in the 1950s and 1970s.