Mieczysław Szczuka

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Mieczysław Szczuka self-portrait (1920)

Mieczysław Szczuka (born October 19, 1898 in Warsaw , † August 13, 1927 on the Eagle Trail in the Tatra Mountains ) was a Polish painter and graphic artist .

From 1915 to 1918 Mieczysław Szczuka studied painting under Miłosz Kotarbiński at the Warsaw Art Academy . In 1920 he showed expressionist works that tended towards Dadaism at his first exhibition . In 1921 he presented together with his fellow students Henryk Stażewski (1894–1988) - influenced by Vladimir Tatlin - his first constructivist work. In 1923 , Szczuka, who propagated utilitarianism and also wanted to combine leftist views with art, articulated his conviction of the necessity of art in view of social issues in the magazine Zwrotnica (in German: Die Weiche ) .

Szczuka illustrated books, worked as a sculptor, set designer, industrial designer and interior designer. His posters, photo montages, and abstract films identified him as an avant-garde . He was at the first avant-garde exhibitions in Bucharest and Vilnius . In 1923 he was present together with Teresa Żarnower (also Teresa Żarnowerówna, 1897-1949) in the Berlin Sturm gallery . Szczuka is a formist among the avant-garde . In 1924 he founded the avant-garde group Blok together with Teresa Żarnower, Władysław Strzemiński , Henryk Berlewi , Henryk Stażewski (1894–1988) and Katarzyna Kobro . They were committed to cubism , suprematism and constructivism. Szczuka became a Suprematist under the influence of Kazimir Malevich . However, in 1927 Szczuka distanced himself from Suprematism. Kobro had left the Blok group a year earlier. Also in March 1927, Szczuka founded the literary magazine Dźwignia (in German: Der Hebel ) , which is related to the Communist Party of Poland . Until his death in the summer of the same year, the editor Szczuka had published four issues.

After Szczuka was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1923 , he went to Zakopane for a cure . Occasionally he climbed there in the High Tatras. He did not survive his 13th attempt to climb Zamarła Turnia via the south face . The circumstances of death were never fully clarified. His safety rope was probably damaged on a ledge. Mieczysław Szczuka found his final resting place in the New Cemetery in Zakopane .

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Commons : Mieczysław Szczuka  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Szczuka, Mieczysław
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish painter and printmaker
DATE OF BIRTH October 19, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Warsaw
DATE OF DEATH August 13, 1927
Place of death Tatra Mountains