Henryk Berlewi
Born 1894 in Warsaw. Supported by his mother, he found an artistic vocation very young. At the age of 12, he studies at the fine arts school in Warsaw. 1909 enrolls to the art school in Antwerpen, 1911 changes to Paris.
1913 moves back to Warsaw, works with the polish futurists. In Berlin, beetween 1922 and 1923, he joins the Novembergruppe; takes part at the Congress of International Progressive Artists and meets El Lissitzky. 1923 back in Warsaw, with Strzeminski founds a constructivist group Blok.
March 1924 publishes his abstract art manifesto, Mechanofaktura, on rhythms of geometrical shapes and pure colour giving the illusion of movement and vibration, prefaced by the writer Alexander Wat. 1924, insisting on the links beetween art and machinery, Berlewi organises the first mechanofaktura exhibition at the Austro-Daimler Auto 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.
1926 he quits his research and returns to figurative art and works as a set designer. 1927 settles in Paris. 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.
1957, the exhibition on the pioneers of abstract art in Poland at the Denise René gallery incites him to resume his researches on mechanofaktura. Dies 1967 in Paris.
