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Szmaj, Stefan

Stefan Szmaj (1893-1970), Polish doctor, graphic artist and painter. In 1910, he took drawing lessons with Hermann Groeber (1865-1935) in Munich for three months. 1910-14, he attended grammar school in Montabaur. From 1914, he studied medicine in Wrocław, Berlin, Tübingen, Munich and Greifswald. In 1915/16, he lived in Berlin, and in 1916/17 he lived in Munich as part of the Polish artist colony and the group surrounding the author Stanisław Przybyszewski. From 1917, in Poznań, he was part of the group of Polish expressionists linked to the magazine Zdrój and the Bunt group of artists.

Self-portrait/Autoportret, Munich 1916. Linocut, 17 x 13.3 cm, for auction (Schmidt Kunstauktionen Dresden OHG, 2016)

https://www.lotsearch.de/

Solo exhibition: 1932 Bydgoszcz

Group exhibitions: 1918 Poznań, Berliner Straße 10: Bunt. Exhibition of Expressionist art; Berlin, Die Aktion (Kaiserallee 222): Collective exhibition of the Polish Artists’ Association "Bunt" / 1920/21 Lwów (now Lviv), Poznań: Wystawa Formistów i Buntu / 1922 Berlin, Commune (Petersburger Straße 39): International exhibition of revolutionary artists (with the group Bunt)

Literature: Timothy O Benson / Monika Król: Avantgarden! in Mitteleuropa 1910-1930. Transformation und Austausch, Exhibition catalogue: Haus der Kunst, Munich, and others, Leipzig 2002; Bunt. Ekspresjonizm poznański 1917-1925, Exhibition catalogue: National Museum/Muzeum Narodowe, Poznań 2003; Lidia Głuchowska: Avantgarde. Berlin – Poznań, in: My, berlińczycy! Wir Berliner! Geschichte einer deutsch-polnischen Nachbarschaft, herausgegeben von Robert Traba, Leipzig 2009, page 160-196; Bunt – Der Sturm – Die Aktion. Polscy i niemieccy ekspresjoniści/Bunt – Der Sturm – Die Aktion. Polish and German Expressionists, Exhibition catalogue: Muzeum Początków Państwa Polskiego and others, Gniezno 2011; Stefan Szmaj. Linoryty 1916-1920. Odzyskana wolność ekspresji/Stefan Szmaj. Linocuts 1916-1920. The Regained Independence of Expression, Text: Urszula Dragońska, Exhibition catalogue: Olszewski Gallery, Warsaw 2019 (further literature there); Jarosław Mulczyński: Słownik grafików Poznania i Wielkopolski XX wieku urodzonych do 1939 roku, Poznań 2019; A. Źakiewicz, in: De Gruyter Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon, vol. 107, Berlin/Boston 2020, page 358 f.

Online: Works in the National Museum, Warsaw/Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie, https://cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl/pl/artysci/5996

Numerous works in the Olszewski Gallery, Warsaw, https://olszewskigallery.com/en/og_gallery/stefan-szmaj-en/, Catalogue download, https://olszewskigallery.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/katalog_digital_web.pdf

(All links last retrieved in October 2020)

Axel Feuß, October 2020