ZOFIA STRYJENSKA Princess of Polish Painting By Danuta Batorska    published in WOMAN'S ART JOURNAL FALL 1998 / WINTER 1999

Zofia Stryjenska, one of the most acclaimed artists in Poland during the period between the two World Wars, was called " Her Royal Highness, Princess of Polish Painting." A multifaceted artist, she was a painter, muralist, graphic artist, book illustrator, as well as designer of kilims, toys, posters, stage sets, and costumes. After World War II and the subsequent institution of the Communist regime in Poland, she was systematically relegated to insignificance, her contribution to Polish art ignored.¹ In fact, she was discredited because she refused to join the government-run Union of Polish Artists. The government's efforts were so successful that even today her contribution is considered minor. Yet, despite this treatment, the Communist government, without her permission, appropriated her paintings and illustrations of Polish subjects and folklore for mass-produced postcards, calendars, plate decorations, and other objects, and used her graphic designs for various commercial purposes. Her name even was signed to works created by others. Needless to say, she was never paid royalties, nor did she claim any; she merely lamented the poor quality of the reproductions.

Zofia Stryjenska was born May 13, 1891, in Krakow, and died February 28, 1974, in Geneva. She was the oldest of six children of Franciszek Lubanski (d. 1929) and Anna Skrzynska Lubanska (d. 1948). Franciszek owned a fashionable store specializing in gloves, which he also manufactured. (Although before her marriage she signed her work Zofia Lubanska, Polish art historians always refer to her as Stryjenska.) She first attended a craft school, then a teacher's seminary, and until 1909 Leonard Stroynowski's private art school. When the latter closed she enrolled in Maria Niedzielska's Fine Arts School for Women, studying painting, drawing, and applied arts. In his memoir, her father recorded that at the end of her studies there, in the latter part of June 1911, Zofia received two awards, one for painting, the other for applied arts.² He also recounted that since at that time no women were allowed to attend any of the officially sanctioned art academies, his daughter decided to pose as a man, and proceeded to dress like one. She appropriated the passport of her brother, Tadeusz Grzymala-Lubanski and left for Munich on October 1, 1911. She was among the 40 students admitted to the Munich Art Academy from a pool of 200 applicants.³ After a year and a half in Munich, attending school as a male, some of her classmates became suspicious and she re turned to Krakow.

In Munich she had become infatuated with Sucharow, a renowned Russian ballet dancer, who may have influenced her ability to capture the motion and vitality of dance in illustrations such as Romans z zycia nieznanego artysty (Romance from the Life of an Unknown Artist), executed before 1916.⁴ Her first artistic success, however, came in 1912, when the Society of Friends of Arts in Krakow included in its mid-December exhibition 18 of her watercolor illustrations for Polish Fables Based on Folklore, which she had created in Munich. At the top of each sheet was the title of the fable, below it the illustration, and on separate sheets, in her own verse, the texts. The main components of her style are present: a preference for narrative, often using large figurative groups; rich imagination and fantasy; and humor. The illustrations were purchased immediately for the princely sum of 3000 koron (around $3,000) by Count Edward Tyszkiewicz. At about this time she gained the attention of Jerzy Warchalowski (1873-1939), an architect, influential art critic, and editor of the monthly periodical Architekt, with whom she remained friends until his death. In his review Warchalowski noted that even though the compositions were immature, he found them technically competent, full of drama, temperament, humor, and realism in the representation of figures. it was he who labeled her "Her Royal Highness, Princess of Polish Painting." He also called her an enchantress for the works' magical quality and legendary imagery.⁵

The artist continued illustrating books, selecting cycles of subjects in which she represented Polish folklore with all its rich and varied facets. In 1913 she created approximately 100 watercolor illustrations of Polish Christmas carols, and in 1914 a cycle of women in Polish national costumes from the 17th and 18th centuries. In all these illustrations line was primary. This is especially so in the seven carol illustrations in the Pastoralka Cycle, printed in 1917 by Warsztaty Krakowskie (Krakow Workshops), an art cooperative whose aim was to unify all the arts, which she joined in 1918. She also designed for the cooperative polychromed wood toys, including small dolls, humorous animals, and blocks with depictions of Polish folk customs and costumes on each side.⁶

Her subject matter and use of line may have been influenced by Mloda Polska (Young Poland), a stylistically diverse art movement active between 1890 and 1918 whose practitioners embraced Impressionism, Realism, Naturalism, Divisionism, Neoromanticism, Symbolism, and even identified with the Secessionists.⁷ All these styles were tied to the ideology of Mloda Polska, to its philosophy, literature, and lifestyle. The movement embraced a social struggle that was more apparent in literature than in painting. The artists, mostly from the upper classes, wanted to leave the city and live in nature. Although Mloda Polska touted art for art's sake, an important element of the movement was patriotism and nationalism. For inspiration, the artists turned to Podhale, a foothill region of the Tatra Mountains where the town of Zakopane is located.⁸ Some settled there, a few developing "peasantmania" and marrying peasant girls; others came periodically. They felt that the seeds of Poland's regeneration resided in the "pure" peasant class. Stanislaw Wyspianski (1869-1907), one of its most prominent members, idealized the Lech, or prehistoric Slavonic Polish tradition. His work is known for its Japanese-influenced flat areas of color and Secessionist or Art Nouveau line.Stryjenska also emphasized line and flat color areas, but her choice of subject was probably influenced as well by her own early love of Polish folklore. Krakow, where she was born and raised, was surrounded by villages in which folk-life was alive. She was able to witness peasant wedding pageants, folk religious processions, markets, trade fairs, and festivals of all sorts. in her memoir she described eloquently her early morning walks with her father to the Krakow Rynek (Market Square) where she saw

... a mass of peasants ... from different villages in the environs of Krakow ... who in their fantastic, colorful folk costumes created the impression of some magical meadow eplete with flowers of the most beautiful colors .... We walked among this mass of village people
of incomparable beauty and grace, whose gestures and style are not to be encountered in any other place, there in Krakow Rynek the initial images of Slavic Gods germinated in my mind, and a distant premonition of a grand Slavic resurrection led by Poland.... Later, all my life, I painted these village people, this vision of my first youth, in the midst of which I grew up ... it is only to be pitied that my brushes failed to render faithfully their real enchantment, which always remains in my memory ... my father called my attention to different types, scenes, details of dress, not because of my ambitions of being a painter ... but because he him self loved all this.... Frequently ostentatious and boisterous peas ant weddings, with their music, arrived in front of St. Mary's Church, and on Sundays, in front of St. Barbara's, a procession formed, accompanied by the playing of the drums, and the women in starched skirts, with a wealth of coral bead necklaces, and their high headdresses, reciting the litanies in a sing-song.... At times at the Maly Rynek [Small Market Square] were drunken happenings so funny that one could burst laughing, especially the fights between the women merchants.⁹

By legitimizing Polish folklore as an art subject, Mloda Polska assured acceptance of Stryjenska's works.

It was at the Warsztaty Krakowskie cooperative that Zofia met Karol Stryjefiski (1887-1932), an architect, sculptor, educator, and all-around designer.¹⁰ According to her diary it was love at first sight; they were married in a private ceremony on November 4, 1916, in the Krakow Carmelite Church of St. Szczepan. ¹¹ The couple had three children: Magda (b. 1918), and twins, Jan and Jacek (b. 1921). Jacek, a painter and muralist, died in 1961; Jan, an architect and educator, died in 1996.

In 1917 Zofia Stryjefiska created a lithograph cycle of 16 Bozkowie Slowianscy (Slavic Gods): Boh, Tryglaw, Pogoda, Swarog -z Radogoszczy, Warwas z Rugii, Lubin, Dydek, Lelum, Radegast, Weles, Kupala, Swiatowid, Perkun, Marzanna, Dziedzilia, and Cyca. There is little information in either ancient chronicles or Polish literature on Slavic mythology, and Tadeusz Dobrowolski observed: "This Slavic Olympus, created magically and literally out of nothingness, convinces with its artistic truthfulness and forces upon the viewer its specific reality."¹² In short, these gods were Stryjeniska's imaginative creations. The lithographs were printed in 1918 by Warsztaty Krakowskie. She also used the Slavic God theme to decorate in fresco the walls of the newly constructed Museum of Industry, where Warsztaty Krakowskie was located, and for paintings in casein on the second floor of Baszta Senatorska, in the Royal Castle at Wawel in Krakow.¹³ Her ability to adapt her designs to architectural decorations culminated in a frieze with life-size figures for the dining room in the Warsaw residence of one of her patrons, architect Zdzislaw Kalinowski; the residence was destroyed during World War II.

Another mural project was sponsored in 1928 by the government in Warsaw's Stare Miasto (Old Town) to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Poland's independence. Several artists were asked to fresco exteriors of houses; Stryjenska was asked to polychrome four houses. However, the project was viewed as a failure, as the artists did not coordinate their work.¹⁴ The houses were destroyed, along with all of Warsaw, during World War II. They were reconstructed in 1953, and on the facade of one is a copy of Stryjenska's fresco of two dancing girls. The energetic dancers are seen against a bright green background, but the reconstruction was done without input from the artist and failed to convey her talent as a muralist.

After her marriage, Stryjenska continued to work at a feverish pace. The couple spent much of their time in Podhale, and in 1921 Karol settled in Zakopane where, from 1923 to 1927, he headed the School of Wood Industry; Zofia moved among Zakopane, Krakow, Warsaw, and other cities to pursue her commissions. The Stryjenscy had friends among the Formists (1917-22), a group of artists who rejected Realism, Impressionism, and Symbolism. The Formists, who claimed to be distinct from Mloda Polska, also sought to create a Polish national style based on new forms and expression derived through their personal contact with folk art, especially that of Podhale. Although Stryjenska never became a Formist, she was among the younger members of Rytm, a group active between 1922 and 1932. Composed of painters and sculptors in their thirties and forties, the group's ideology was similar to that of the Skamandra group of urban poets. The artists, who believed in formal classical discipline, strove consciously to build and transform forms taken from nature. They sought harmony, avoided tension. Although Rtym was rooted in the Polish psyche and ideals, the artists stressed their individuality. Rejecting European Modernism, these artists found their subject matter in Polish folklore, and their compositions rhythmical, emphasizing line and using flat areas of color were quite decorative.

In addition to her work as illustrator, graphic artist, and muralist, Stryjenska was also a theatrical designer. In 1917 her pantomine play Bajki o Macku Piecuchu i pannie Gapiomile krolewnie (Fables of Maciek Piecuch and Her Royal Highness Miss Gapiomila) had its premier in the Krak6w City Theatre. Besides writing the script, she designed the sets and costumes.¹⁵

Around this time (1917-18) she created her Pascha (Resurrection) Cycle, which represents the culmination of her painting style.¹⁶ executed in tempera on paper, the Pascha Cycle consisted of six paintings, five of which are extant: Resurrection, Women at the Tomb, Christ and Mary Magdalene or The Gardener, Meeting with the Son (Fig. 1), and Apparition to the Apostles, all personal interpretations of the New Testament. In Meeting with the Son, the resurrected Christ appears as an Apollo-Poland.¹⁷ He is a blond, Slavic-Greek type, dressed in Polish peasant's garments; a fantastic straw hat adorned with Polish folk motifs covers his head, and simple Polish highlander's shoes protect his feet. The only visible signs of his Passion are two bloodlike red specks on his shoes; the banner in his right hand identifies him as the resurrected Christ. His Mother, the Virgin Mary, is an old, worn out, barefoot peasant, dressed in the rich Polish folk costume; a large kilimlike scarf covers her shoulders and reaches to the ground as a train. Her head is adorned by sheaves of wheat and other fruits of the Polish soil. To Christ's left and slightly behind him is a group of men, an assortment of Polish peasants, some of whose headdresses sport either peacock's plumes or a wealth of vegetation. Behind the Virgin grows a tree, its elements also derived from Polish folk designs, especially paper cutouts. A friezelike composition, the figures are simplified and almost subordinated to the brilliant color and the light emanating from Christ and surrounding his head; line becomes secondary. The figures of Christ and his Mother form a triangular visual unit and are separated from the others by the light around Christ's head and the Virgin Mary's kilim.

The interpretations of the other Pascha scenes are also personal and patriotic. Resurrection shows the blond, Slavic Christ above a group of German soldiers, a reference to resurrected Poland after World War I. Similarly, in Apparition to the Apostles, the blond, Slavic Christ-Poland stands in the doorway of a room filled with diverse representatives of the Polish nation. The setting of Woman at the Tomb is the basement of a Polish manor house, and a darkhaired Mary Magdalene wears contemporary city-dweller's dress. This figure reappears in Christ and Mary Magdalene and is believed to be a self-portrait.

Much has been written about Wyspianski's influence on Stryjenska's interpretation of Christ's resurrection as representing Poland's resurrection as a sovereign country after World War I.¹⁸ Although she does not acknowledge this influence in her memoir, she held Wyspianski in high esteem. He may have influenced this representation of Christ, but it is important to remember that Stryjenska, like most Poles of her generation, was steeped in patriotism and Polish nationalism. Besides having been born and raised in Krakow, the city where Jan Matejko,¹⁹ teacher of Wyspianski, created his patriotic paintings, Stryjenska was very familiar with Polish literature, which was even more patriotic and nationalistic than the painting.

The year 1921 was especially productive. She created the sets for a movie and painted the Gods' Hunt triptych and Seven Sacraments Cycle. God's Hunt, together with Stare Miasto, a cycle of four pictures depicting genre scenes in the oldest part of Warsaw, were exhibited in Zacheta, Warsaw's most prestigious art gallery. (Ten years later Stryjenska was awarded a gold medal and a silver medal, respectively, for these works at the International Exhibit of Religious Art in Padua.)²⁰ In 1921 Karol formed the publishing house Fala, which specialized in publishing his wife's illustrated books. Although Fala lasted only a year, some of the books it published are still sought after by bibliophiles.²¹

Stryjenska's greatest accomplishment came in 1925, when the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes opened in Paris. In her diary Styjenska gave a vivid account of her reaction to Jerzy Warchalowski's invitation to paint six large panels, which he extended in the name of the committee in charge of organizing the Polish exhibit.²² This was a critical moment in her life. Her marriage had collapsed, and she was torn between her obligation to remain in Zakopane with the children and the opportunity to go to Warsaw (as required by the committee) to execute the six panels; she finally went to Warsaw.

Stryjenska's six panels, tempera and casein on canvas, each measuring 122 3/4" x 156 1/2", decorated the interior of the Polish pavilion's main room.²³ Designed by Jozef Czajkowski, ²⁴ the octagon-shaped room was topped with a crystal cupola that rested on eight black oak trunks retrieved from the bottom of the Vistula River. Around the walls were benches and a table designed by Karol Stryjenski, who related them to Podhale woodwork.²⁵

Each of Zofia Stryjenska's six panels depicted two months as they related to village life and seasonal change.²⁶ The panels portrayed Polish rites and old Slavic beliefs and customs; they represented a kaleidoscope of figures and events in Polish life. Each panel was framed by a frieze with stylized depictions of trees and flowers, their designs based on folk art paper cutouts, the trees separated by nude female figures. Like the other panels, January-February (1925; cover) is divided into two horizontal sections. In the center of the upper section appear personifications of January on the left and February on the right, their bodies linked as they move forward. Their garments are fantastic, neither pertaining to peasants, nobility, nor gods. January appears frozen, and both months wear helmetlike headresses reminscent of frost. Wheat garlands separate them from the peasants flanking them, who perform tasks associated with each month, such as sowing seeds and hunting. In the lower section Stryjenska painted a parade led by a youth riding one of the three horses pulling a cart. From the youth's hat appears to grow the garland of wheat depicted in the upper section, which unifies the two sections. A blond, Slavic youth sits in the cart holding the reins; behind him sits a young woman whose long brown braids form a continuous line with the garland of wheat above it. In front of the cart runs a personification of frost holding the hand of a small child, and next to the horses, two playful goats move along with the procession.

In the center of the upper half of May-June (Fig. 2), two male figures personifying the months embrace each other. Separated from them by garlands of wheat two peasants appear, one on each side, performing tasks associated with the months, here hunting and pottery making. In the lower portion, on a cart pulled by two horses, rides a youth with sheaf of wheat, and running alongside the cart is a female, her head adorned by a fantastic headdress formed of the fruits of the season that she personifies. She leads three dogs on leashes. Next to the horses rides a hunter, a nobleman; a youth leading the procession holds the horses' reins. The colorful figures are placed against a dark, flat background. The figures are simplified, line is secondary, and the intense action is portrayed using rhythmical and decorative elements.

Stryjenska also created two posters for the Polish exhibit, designed a kilim, and exhibited book illustrations and toys. The kilim, measuring 71'1/4" x 101", was woven in 1924 in Maria Sliwinska's atelier, and is known today only from a black-and-white photograph.²⁷ Depicted on it was Sobotka, a folk festival that takes place on June 23, the vigil of the feast day of Saint John. She was awarded four Grand Prix: for her painting, kilim design, poster, and book illustration. In addition, she was named Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur and was awarded a Dipl6me d'Honneur for her toy designs. Also in 1925 she received an award for book illustration at the Second International Festival of the Modern Book in Florence. Her graphic art was recognized in 1926 in Budapest; and the book illustrations received awards first in 1927 in Leipzig, where she was named correspondent for Der Verein -Deutsche Buchkiinstler," and later in 1929 at the Poznafi exhibition, where she received a gold medal. At home in Poland she was celebrated in both women's and general periodicals.²⁸

In 1930 the Polish government gave Stryjenska its highest award, Polonia Restituta, and in 1936 the Polish Academy of Literature awarded her the Gold Academic Wreath. Two years before her death, the Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation of New York City presented her an award inscribed "For extraordinary artistic achievement in visual arts. Her original works, subtly inspired by Polish folk art, left an indelible mark on the Polish imagination and gained a deserved international recognition.^"

After her 1925 triumph, Stryjenska continued to produce at the same prodigious pace. In collaboration with Warsztaty Krakowskie, she illustrated Sielanki by Szymon Szymanowic in 1926, and the following year created designs for kilims representing the seasons, using repetitive decorative motifs derived from nature, as part of the Lad entry at the Carpet and Tapestry Exhibition at the Louvre. In 1928 she designed a large tapestry, 1581h" x 118'A", again representing Sobotka, for a gift to Emperor Hirohito of Japan. Her work in applied arts influenced post-World War II Polish fiber art.

After the success of her book illustrations in 1922, publisher Jakob Mortkowicz wanted to create special editions of her work. Stryjefiska produced some of her best illustrations during their association. Among the most popular with the public, and consequently most successful financially, was the 1927 cycle of eleven Polish dances printed as rotogravures in 1929. These appeared in special albums and also were reproduced on postcards and as decorations for homes and schoolrooms. They are reprinted to this day. The cycle captured the variety of Polish dances, from each region and all social classes.²⁹ In Polka (Fig. 3) an urban working-class couple abandons itself completely to the dance. Although they do not touch, they form a visual and physical unit. Their bodies express not only the vitality and exuberance of the dance but also their mutual attraction. The forms are simplified; color and line alone create the tempo and the dancing partners.

Karol and Zofia Stryjenscy's sojourn in Zakopane had great influence on her art. For their friend composer Karol Szymanowski's (1882-1937) Podhale-inspired ballet, Harnasie, Stryjenska created three sets of costumes. The first set was not used, but the second was used for the premier in Warsaw's Great Theatre and the third for the Polski Balet Reprezentacyjny (Representational Polish Ballet) performances in 1939, in Paris, Brussels, and New York City.³⁰

Another friend from Zakopane was agronomist, ethnomusicologist, and composer Stanislaw Mierczynski (1894-1952). In 1930 he published Music of Podhale, with an introduction by Szymanowski and illustrations by Stryjenska. The illustrations also were published in 1933 as a cycle, Tatry i Gorale: 9 ilustracji z dziela Mierczynskiego Muzyka Podhala (Tatra Mountains and Highlanders: 9 Illustrations from Mierczynski's Music of Podhale).³¹

Stryjenska poured her heart and soul and her love of the Tatra and Podhale into this work. One of the illustrations, Juhas i dziewczyny (Juhas and Girls) (Fig. 4), shows a young shepherd casting a spell with his flute over two girls and his sheepdog.³² The figures sit in the foreground; above and to the left a flock of sheep graze; and rising in the distance is the awesome outline of the Tatra Mountains. A horizontal format presented no problem for Stryjenska. The curve of the mountain on which the group sits and the soft curves of the girls' backs unify the three figures. Further enhancing the scene's enchantment are the subtlety of color and atmospheric quality in which mountains dissolve into misty shapes. The Tatra Mountains become a place of peace and reverie, a world unique in its beauty and sensations.

In her memoir Stryjenska speaks of her loneliness many years after her separation and divorce from Karol Stryjenski and his death in 1932; she laments the absence of a mentor and manager as well as a friend who would allow her time for her art to evolve. She had trusted his judgment and blamed herself for the collapse of the marriage. She later wrote: "With my horrible, impulsive ... behavior, I killed Karol's love [for me]." ³³ She was not even bitter toward him after he had her arrested and placed in an asylum for the mentally ill in 1927. She had slapped his mistress after a final effort at reconciliation failed. ³⁴ To prevent further arrests, she divorced Karol and in 1929 married Artur Klemens Socha (1896-1943), an actor. The marriage, however, was shortlived - he discovered he had syphilis.³⁵ on her own and in constant financial need, she produced works at an unprecedented pace and found herself repeating old compositions. On October 16, 1936, she wrote:

I do not see the purpose of this incessant work.... It can not continue in this fashion. The nonstop output [of paintings] lowers the art standard of my work. The color scheme begins to be vulgar, the light, or illumination, is not worked out, the figures are lifeless, anything goes, it is smeared [on the canvas], only with the idea of selling it ³⁶

Yet, during these years she created one album of enormous value, Polish Peasants' Costumes. Figures are depicted from both front and back, and the costumes are authentic reproductions of regional Polish garments. The album was printed with an introduction and notes by Thadee Seweryn, curator of the Ethnographic Museum in Krakow.³⁷

Stryjenska spent the war years in Krakow. In 1943 she discovered she had syphilis, which affected her eyes so that at times she could not paint.³⁸

After the war she joined her children in Switzerland, then lived briefly in Geneva, Paris, Brussels (with a sister), and again in Geneva. When in July 1947 she returned to Krakow to see her mother, who was dying from cancer ³⁹ she brought with her new projects and approached her old friend Mortkowicz about printing them. She was told there was no paper. Stryjenska then contacted Minister Rusinek in Warsaw, where she was given an appointment with his representative, who never appeared. Rejected by the Communist regime because she did not join its artists union, she gained acceptance again only after the collapse in 1989. Maria Gronska's brief monograph on Zofia Stryjeniska was published in 1991, followed by Stryjenska's memoir in 1995. This article is to date the most comprehensive study in English of the creative achievements of this remarkable woman.⁴⁰
 

I thank the University of Houston for its financial support in researching this project and its Women's Studies Program for funding the color reproduction; Polska Akademia Nauk-Instytut Sztuki and its director, Professor Stanislaw Mossakowski, for generously giving me access to the documentation on Stryjenska and allowing me to use its library, even after it closed for the summer; and the curator of the Graphic Department at the National Library at Warsaw. Unless otherwise indicated, all translations are by the author.

1. Dorota Suchocka, "0 sukcesie Zofii Stryjenskiej" (Regarding Zofia Stryjenska's Success), Biuletyn Historii Sztuki (no. 4, 1981), 411-36. Suchocka maintained that Stryjenska's success before World War 11 was due to her eccentric behavior, which elicited notoriety. For comments on her eccentricities, see Hanna Mortkowicz-Olczakowa, Pod znakiern kloska (Under the Sign of the Kernel of Wheat) (Warsaw: Krajowa Agencia Wyclawnicza, 1926), 176.

2. Fragments of Lubaniski's unpublished memoir, which covered the period from 1894 to 1923, were included by Jan Stryjenski, Zofia's son, an architect and educator in Geneva, in the introductory chapter, "0 matce slow kilka" (A Few Words about Mother), to his mother's two volume memoir, Zofia Stryjenska, Chleb prawie powszedni, pamietnik (Nearly Daily Bread, Memoir), Maria Gronska, ed., (Warsaw: Gebethner i Ska, 1995), 21-25. Lubanski also wrote that his daughter's behavior was impulsive, and she would disappear for days, only to communicate later from Vienna, or another distant place; he also noted his keen disappointment at not being advised of or invited to her wedding. Zofia's memoir, which was in her son's possession, covers her life from childhood through 1951. in Polish the ending of last names depends on gender, especially those ending in ski or cki. The ending with "ski," as in Jan Stryjenski, is male; the ending with "ska," as in Zofia Stryjenska, is female; and the ending with .scy," as in Stryjenscy, is plural for either males, or males and females; plural ending for females is "skie," as in Stryjenskie.

3. Stryjenska, Chleb prawie, 1,3940, 69, notes 38,39,40,41.A. Maria Grofiska, Zofia Stryjenska (Warsaw: Ossolineum, 1991), 8, 10.

5. See ibid., 8, for the titles of fables and Warcholowski's review. Warchalowski was also a cofounder and president of the Towarzystwo Polska Sztuka Stosowana (Association of Polish Applied Art) in 1901; member of art cooperative Warsztaty Krakowskie (Krakow Workshops), founded in January 1913; organizer of the Polish section of the 1925 Paris exhibition; as well as having a role in other important Polish art organizations. An early admirer and supporter of Zofia Stryjenska, he is author of Zofia Stryjenska (Warsaw: Krajowa Agencia Wydawnicza, 1929).

6. Stryjenska, Chleb prawie, 1, 71, n. 55.

7. For additional information on Mloda Polska, see Symbolism in Polish Painting, 1890-1914 (The Detroit Institute of Arts, 1984).

8. The Tatra Mountains are located in southeastern Poland. Podhale is a region in the Tatra foothills where a rich folklore existed before World War II. Gorale (highlanders), the inhabitants of Podhale, had their own language and literature, music, customs, and costumes. Even today Podhale is known for its rich folk tradition. Zakopane, located at the foot of the Tatra, is a year-round resort frequented by Poles and foreigners.

9. Stryjenska, Chleb prawie, 1, 34-35. Before her memoir was published it was generally thought that the Slavic myths and folklore in her art were influenced by Wyspianski; see Gronska, Zofia Stryjenska, 12.

10. Karol Stryjenski was a son of Tadeusz Stryjenski (1849-1943), a well-known Krakow architect and conservator. He worked in his father's architectural firm and from 1913 also at Warsztaty Krakowskie. He was cofounder and organizer in 1926 of Spofdzielnia Artystow i Rzemieglnikow  (Association of Artists and Craftsmen), and from 1927-32 was a professor at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts.

11. Stryjenska, Chleb prawie, 1, 40, wrote that when she met Karol Stryjenski both were speechless and only stared at each other. Alicia Okonska, in Malarki polskie (Polish Women Painters) (Warsaw: Ossolineum, 1976), 2A3, 259, writes that Karol, already established in the Polish art world, helped promote Zofia's work.

12. Tadeusz Dobrowolski, Nowoczesne malarstwo polskie (Contemporary Polish Art), III (Wroclaw: Polska Akadernia Nauk, 1964), 173.

13. See Gronska, Zofia Stryjenska, 12-13, Figs. 5, 6, 23, 24, 61, 62, 63. The frescoes are located in the hallway on the second floor of the Tech n ica I-Industrial Museum in Krakow on Smolensk Street, which was constructed by Karol Stryjenski's father. The designs for the decorations are in Warsaw's National Museum.

14. For the history of the project, see Stryjenska, Chleb prawie, 1, 8990, n. 267. Dobrowolski, Nowoczesne malarstwo polskie. 111, 170, maintained that the government commission was a reward for the artists who supported the Legiony (the Polish Army, led by Jozef Pilsudski, which won Poland's independence) during World War 1. Stryjenska produced postcards and donated the profits from their sale to the Legiony's efforts. The postcards can be seen in the Graphics Department of Warsaw's National Library. Similarly, during World War 11 Stryjenska created postcards that depicted Polish dances in white and red, colors of the Polish flag, with the inscription: 1940-Buenos Aires-Vendido a beneficio del Comit6 Pro Socorro de las Victimas de lo Guerra en Polonio (I 9AO-Buenos Aires-Sold for the Benefit of the Relief Committee of War Victims in Poland). The profit from their sale in Argentina was for the relief of Polish war victims. They also ore in the Graphics Department of Warsaw's National Library.

15. Gronska, Zofia Stryjenska, 14. The project was not reviewed.

16. According to ibid., I A-15. See Figs. 8, 9, 10.

17. M. Wallis, Sztuka polska, dwudziestolecia: Wybor pism z lot 192 1195,4 (Polish Art of the Twentieth Century: Selected Writings from 192 1 -1954) (Warsaw: Ossolineum, 1959), 201-02, was the first to write that Stryjenska's Christ was an Apollo-Poland, a blond, Slavic-Greek type.

18. Wallis, ibid., as early as 1930 claimed that Stryjenska's patriotic interpretation was influenced by Wyspianski. This was repeated by Gronska, Zofia Stryjenska, 14, and others. Wyspianski was not only a painter but also an eminent poet and playwright.

19. For Jan Matejko (1838-1893), see Danuta Batorska, "The Political Censorship of Jan Matejko," Art Journal (Spring 1992), 57-63.

20. Grofiska, Zofia Stryjenska, 19. The cycle included the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Penance, Sacrament of the Altar, Extreme Unction, Marriage, and Priesthood. The 1931 Padua exhibit commemorated the 700th anniversary of the death of Saint Anthony of Padua.

2 1. For a listing of books she illustrated and reproductions of book illustrations, see ibid.

22. Stryjenska, Chleb prawie, 1, 59-63.

23. The octagon with a partial view of Stryjenska's panels is reproduced in ibid.

24. Architect and educator Jozef Czajkowski (1872-1947) was also a painter, designer of interiors, tapestries, and stained glass windows.

25. For an analysis of the Polish entry, consult Wallis, Sztuka polsko dwudziestolecia, 339,42. Wallis commented that the Polish entry failed in its intent to show a new Polish style, which, he claimed, did not exist yet. He also pointed out the weaknesses of the Polish entry, but praised Zofia Stryjenska.

26. Gronska, Zofia Stryjenska, 21, wrote that the finished cartoons for the panels, which she reproduced, are housed in the National Museum in Warsaw. There is no information as to what happened to the panels.

27. For the illustration of the kilim, see Irena Huml, Polska sztuka stosowano, XX wieku (Polish Twentieth Century Applied Art) (Warsaw: Arkady, 1978), Fig. 57.

28. The most notable article was "Zofia Stryjenska w Warszowie: U ksiezniczki malarstwa polskiego" (Zofia Stryjenska in Warsaw: At Home with the Reigning Princess of Polish Painting) Wiadomosci Literackie (Literary News), July 1, 1924. The author noted: "Charming and full of humor, the artist is as eloquent with words as she is with brushes."

29. An English edition, Polish Dances, with an introduction by Artur Schroeder, was published by Drukarnia Narodowa, Warsaw-Krakow, 1938. The originals, painted in tempera, are lost, and only album reproductions exist.

30. Stryjenska, Chleb prawie, 1, 119-20, n. 62, 180-81, 263-64, notes, 3, 4. The third set of costume designs for Harnasie, together with costume projects for Turandot, are in the Warsaw Museum of the Theatre. Stryjenska had earlier created sets and costumes for Juliusz Slowacki's Bolladyna, which had premiered in Krakow in 1927; costumes for Witai jutrzenko swobody, a play directed by L. Schiller, which premiered in November 1928 at The Great Theatre in Warsaw; stage sets for Kulig, premiering in May 1929 in Poznan; as well as stage and costume designs for works never produced.

3 1. The album with the cycle of illustrations was published in Lwow by the publishing house Ksiaznica Atlas.

32. Juhas, a term of Hungarian origin, denotes among Polish highlanders a young shepherd in the Tatra and Carpathian Mountains.

33. Memoir entry, December 1936. For the elaboration of these feelings, see Stryjenska, Chleb prowie, 1, 125, 181, 234.

34. The incident received wide press coverage; see ibid., 65-66, 93-107.

35. Ibid., 107. Stryjenska recorded that the wedding took place in 1929, but no documents relating to her divorce or remarriage have come to light. After a honeymoon in France, Stryjenska and Socha returned to Poland. When Socha discovered he had syphilis, the marriage ceased to exist, but they remained friends. They were formally divorced in 1934.

36. Jan Stryjenski, in a letter of October 5, 1993, to Maria Gronska, elaborated on his mother's lack of business sense and her constant financial difficulties. For Stryjenska's comments, see Chleb prowie, 1, 217-18, 237, n. 34.

37. Polish Peasants' Costumes was published by C. Szwedzicki in 1939 in Nice. Her post-World War II book illustrations lack the sensitivity and vibrancy of the early work.

38. Stryjenska, Chleb prawie, 1, 315-16, 387.

39. The exact date of her mother's death is not given; the envelope with the news of her death had a stamp of April 13, 1948; ibid., 11, 138, n. 11. Mortkowicz-Olczakowa, Pod znakiem, 368, described Stryjenska's visit and the fact that they would have been unable to obtain from the government the paper to print her latest work. She added that, nonetheless, the government was providing the paper needed to print postcards from Stryjenska's designs without her permission.

40. See also my entry on Stryjenska in Delia Gaze, ed., Dictionary of Women Artists, 11 (London and Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997).

*************
Danuta Batorska, Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Houston,
writes frequently about Polish women artists.

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