Memories of Tadeusz Michał Siara in Marburg/Lahn

The first publication about Tadeusz Michał Siara, a graduate of the Katowice graphic art department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, appeared in 1976 in Polish and English[1]. It claims that even the early etchings made by the artist were already regarded as being a noteworthy contribution to contemporary printed graphics. However, in neighbouring Germany, these works remained almost entirely unknown.

Due to the political conditions at the time, the best way of overcoming these difficulties was through personal connections. Surprised by the unexpected private initiative from Marburg/Lahn, Tadeusz Siara was very happy to accept the invitation to exhibit his works in the Federal Republic of Germany and to see how they would be received by collectors and art dealers there. He agreed to the transportation of all the pieces on loan, so that the planned retrospective show could be held according to schedule from 6 April to 26 May 1979. The “Galerie in der Hofstatt” in the middle of the historic city centre of Marburg offered a suitable space for the exhibition. A catalogue that was small but packed with illustrations[2], and which was distributed in advance, made the envisioned success a reality. The press gave favourable advance notice of the event, and ultimately, the exhibition attracted more visitors than anyone had anticipated.

The artist was happy to take up the invitation to travel to Marburg himself and to be present in person at the opening, even though his first experience of Germany was tainted by unhappy memories. His family was deported to a location near Ulm in southern Germany by the Waffen-SS, where the four-year-old Tadeusz and his parents and siblings were forced to remain until after the end of the war. 

The welcome and acceptance with which he was received in Marburg from everyone that he met there quickly helped forge connections that soon became dear friendships. Whenever possible, Tadeusz Siara returned to Marburg every year, often also with friends and colleagues whom he showed around the now familiar city with its monuments and famous landmarks. “If I hadn’t made friends here,” he later wrote, “the city would have remained nothing more than just a few dots on the map for me. Now, though, Marburg has become a second home, despite the borders that separate us. So don’t ask me where my heart belongs.”[3]

Visible proof of his attachment to the city comes in the form of “Arrival in Marburg” (“Ankunft in Marburg”)[4], a series of twelve small-format vedutas, which while they are reminiscent of the works of Bernhard Mannfeld (1848–1925), Ferdinand Justi (1837–1907) and Otto Ubbelohde (1867–1922) also go beyond the simple depiction of the visible with their expressive ductus. It is with the same sentiment that in September 1847, Adolph von Menzel (1815–1905) confessed in a letter to his sister that “in Marburg, where it was heavenly, the weather, the region, the city, the architecture in the churches and the castle, the people etc. [... I could have] passed the time in a most interesting manner for [an entire] four weeks, rather than four days.”[5]

In more than 50 etchings, which the artist calls “Letters”[6], he records his memories of cities and countries throughout the world. Together, they form a notebook with graphic stenographs, to which he sometimes adds handwritten comments, as with the “Letters from Marburg” (“Briefe aus Marburg”), of which there are two versions.

In his most important and extensive series, “In the Tower of Babel” (“Im Turm zu Babel”)[7], the artist is in search of the ruins of a culture that decided to build the tower in a spirit of callous overconfidence, but was doomed to failure due to the confusion caused by the different languages. Each of the 26 sheets is labelled with a letter from the Latin alphabet, emphasising the irreversible consequences of the dichotomy between image and written speech.

Tadeusz Siara turns to traditional archaeological methods to cover the area around the tower and the dilapidated buildings; he removes sediments, takes away the rubble from fallen-through ceilings and secures cracked steps. Earthenware pots, stone troughs and brick shelf walls challenge the imagination of the viewer.

Currently, six etchings have been produced under the title “Observatorium” and four others for the “Exits” (“Ausgänge”) series. In the interim, even if they have not, or have not yet, been completed as finished editions with commentary and bibliography, the artist, who is now in his old age, reflects without bitterness on the historicity of humankind and the manner in which it treats its surroundings.[8]

Armin Geus, March 2025

Artist’s website:  siaratadeuszm.pl
https://www.instagram.com/tmsiara/