Władysław Strzemiński

Painter. Born 1893 in Minsk into a family of Polish gentry, his father is a Lieutenant-Colonel officer of the Tsarist Army. Parents imagine him a military career, 1904-11 studies at the Tsar Alexandre II Cadet School in Moscow. 1911-14 studies at The Tsar Nicholaus Military School of Engineering (Voyennoe Inzhyneryinoe Uchylishche) in Petersburg, gains wide knowledge in the history of architecture and military construction. July 1914, shortly afler graduating, delegated as an officer of sappers to the Osowiec fortress in the Bialystok District; during WWI takes part in military operations on the Eastern Front, in command of a sappers' unit. May 1916 seriously injured by the explosion of a grenade in trenches, his eyeball injured, and right thigh and left forearm amputated in Prochorov Hospital in Moscow, what ruins his hopes for a military career, he is to use crutches till the end of his life. Meets his future wife Katarzyna Kobro who is a sister of mercy in the hospital and intends to study sculpture.

1917 fascinated by the private art collection of the factory owner Shchukin in Moscow, which includes a wide variety of French paintings from Impressionism to Cubism. Probably starts to study history and theory of art, also inspired by the artistic events in the wake of the October Revolution. May-November 1918 takes part in the meetings of the Subsection of Art and Artistic Industry, headed by Tatlin, within the framework of IZO Narkompros; the group includes Malevich and Pevsner. Autumn 1918 starts studying in the First Free Artistic Studios (SVOMAS, Svobodniye Masterskiye), opened in September in the old Strogonov School in Moscow; meets Kobro there again; later in 1919 leaves the school without graduation. December 1918 his paintings are among the ones purchased by IZO Narkompros for the prospective Museum of Artistic Culture in Petersburg. 1919 takes part in agitprop activities; February 1919 with Ciechanowski and the local IZO director Vsevolod Dmitrev designed the decoration of the Minsk city to celebrate the first anniversary of The Red Army. February 1919 nominated (together with Rodchenko) to the Moscow Committee of Art and Artistic Industry, which must have been an equivalent of the IZO Narkompros Subsection, in which he worked in the previous year. Together with Pevsner he directs The All-Russian Central Office of Exhibitions (Vsserossyiskoye Tsentralnoye Vystavochnoe Byuro), the institution founded within the IZO framework to organize exhibitions all over the country. Shows his paintings at the VIII exhibition in Moscow.

Autumn 1919 moves to Smolensk. Works as an instructor of the Subsection of Art in the Smolensk District Department of People's Education (GubONO, Gubernskiy Otdel Narodnogo Obrazovanya). December 1919 participates in an exhibition of local and Moscow-based artists, organized by Malevich. Takes part in the Manovich's circle which later forms the UNOVIS group. First half 1920 he is the director of the Section of Art of the Joint Departments of Museums and Fine Arts (Podotdel muzeyev y izobrazitelnykh iskustv) affiliated with GubONO; as a representative of the section he is made the secretary of the Arts Council, whose first meeting takes place in April 1920, where he presents the far left-wing views. March 1920 shows ten works at an exhibition in Smolensk, including sketches for the scenery of Mayakovsky's 'Buffo Mystery Play'; works are later selected for the presentation in the Museums of Artistic Culture (MCHK, Muzeya Khudozhestvennoy Kultury). Summer 1920 Kobro comes to Smolensk; together they supervise the IZO Studio GubONO, affiliated with UNOVIS. Malevich living in nearby Vitebsk often visits Smolensk; together they teach the principles of Cubism and Suprematism. 1920 exhibits with the UNOVIS group in Moscow.

Dies 1952 in Łódź.

Comprehensive resource on Strzemiński
Remigiusz Grzela: Katarzyna Kobro i Wladyslaw Strzeminski. Rozmowa z ich córką – Niką, 2005 (Polish)

See also: Poland#Constructivists