Jonasz Stern, Landscape, 1973, painting-assemblage, own technique, 92 x 120 x 6 cm

Jonasz Stern (1904–1988) was born into a Jewish family and attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. The trauma he experienced during World War II—escaping death at the hands of a firing squad—had a profound effect on his life, including his work. Abandoning abstract compositions, he became interested in organic shapes and three-dimensional structures in his paintings. He began to use scraps of everyday objects, organic matter and bones in his works, overlaying them with gradients of color. His works took on an eschatological dimension, prompting viewers to ponder the inevitability of death.

The fabrics and remains used in Landscape are obscured by plexiglass and a grid stretched over it from the inside. This treatment makes the person viewing the work see his or her own reflection at the same time, and to involuntarily become part of the composition. Wishing to read the Galeria Studio Collection in new contexts, the curatorial team of the exhibition ‘Butterfly Resistance: Haiti’ (2024) included Stern’s work. In this context, it evoked racism, exploitation and genocide as common features of the extermination of European Jews and colonial project in Haiti.

Maria Prokesz