Henryk Berlewi

Born 1894 in Warsaw. Studies at the fine arts academies of Warsaw (1904–1909), Antwerp (1909–1910), and Paris (1911–1912), returning to Warsaw in 1913 to study at the school of design. During World War I, he discovered futurism and Dada and in 1918 met with the futurist Aleksander Wat and the formist Anatol Stern, Jews whose Polish-language verse he later illustrated.

In 1921 meets El Lissitzky and follows him to Berlin, where in 1922–1923 he abandons figurative art for pure constructivist abstraction. 1922 participates at the Novembergruppe exhibition. Along with Adler he is chosen to represent Jewish artists from Eastern Europe at the Congress of International Progressive Artists. Meets El Lissitzky, Viking Eggeling (to whom Berlewi devoted article published in 'Albatross' in 1922), and many others (Moholy-Nagy, van Doesburg, Richter, van der Rohe). May-Sep 1923 presents his first 'Mechano-Faktura' compositions in the Novembergruppe section of the Grosse Berliner Kunstaustellung.

November 1923 returns to Warsaw. With Strzeminski founds a constructivist group Blok. In his review of the exhibition which accompanied the Congress in Dusseldorf, published in 'Nasz Kurier', states that expressionism is obsolete and was replaced by Novembergruppe's dada and by constructivism. March 1924 publishes his theoretical tract being written since 1922, Mechano-Faktura (using mechanical means to create texture), prefaced by the writer Alexander Wat; its basic premise rejects the illusion of space in favor of two-dimensionality; color is reduced to black, white, and red, and visual equivalents of images are accomplished by mechanical means using rhythmic arrangements of lines and simple geometrical forms such as circles and squares. Along with the publication he organises the first mechanofaktura exhibition at the Austro-Daimler Automobile Salon. Summer 1924, invited by Herwarth Walden, founder of the Der Sturm magazine and gallery, to exhibit his mechanofaktura works in Berlin; the German version of his manifesto gets published. 1924 established Reklama-Mechano advertising agency with Wat and Stanisław Brucz, that—among its rare realizations—worked on the Plutos chocolate folder.

1926 he quits his research and returns to figurative art and works as a set designer. 1927 settles in Paris, as did other Polish and Jewish artists. 1928-1938 travels through Belgium and does a few portraits of the political and literary world. At that time, learns that he is seriously ill, and stops the artistic activity whatsoever.

1942 leaves Paris, finds refuge in Nice and enters the French Resistance (1943-1944). 1947 returns to painting. Wanting to "reintroduce the object", he makes still lives inspired by the French masters of the 17th century.

Rediscovered by a French critic, Berlewi took part in a major Paris show, 'Precursors of Abstract Art in Poland' (1957). Suddenly appreciated again, he also had one-man shows in Berlin (1963, 1964), Paris (1965), Warsaw (1966), Zurich (1974), and New York (1976, 1978). Dies 1967 in Paris.

Publications

• Magdalena Frankowska, Artur Frankowski, Berlewi, 2010, 160 pages. (Polish) [1] [2]

Misc

• FA Berlewi, a stencil type-face by Artur Frankowski based on poster lettering from 1924 by Berlewi, 2006. [3] [4]

Henryk Berlewi Archive, Frankfurt am Main
http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Berlewi_Henryk