Studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw, under the direction of Artur Nacht-Samborski (1948-1954).
He made his debut for Arsenal in Warsaw in 1955. In 1956, he joined the Tarczyńska Theatre. In 1959, he received the Grand Prix for the first Youth Biennale in Paris. In 1971, he became a French citizen. In 1992, Zachęta held the largest retrospective of his work in Poland. In 1998, President Aleksander Kwasniewski honored Lebenstein with the Order of Polonia Restituta.
Lebenstein was a Polish painter and graphic artist. He practiced a variety figurative painting, both surreal and abstract. He illustrated, among others, George Orwell's Animal Farm, and several books of the Bible. His art often features expressive composition, symbolic fantasy, and animal motifs, many times of an erotic nature.
On the last day of my last trip to Poland, I finally came across and purchased the book "Jan Lebenstein: Warszawa – Paryż. Prace z lat 1956–1972" by Piotr Kłoczowski and Agnieszka Szewczyk. To tell you how much I enjoy Lebenstein's art, when the clerk found the book for me, I made a sound like I just discovered the holy grail... Ahhhh-ahhhhhhhhhhh!
Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment