Objects

Adolf Bienenstock (b. 1888 in Tarnów, d. 1937 in Przemyśl) – painter, representative of Polish Expressionism. In the years 1907–1911, he studied under Józef Mehoffer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. In 1911, he started working as substitute teacher in the Ukrainian Secondary School in Przemyśl. In 1918, he was transferred to the Secondary School in Drohobycz (Drohobych). There, he met Bruno Schulz, with whom he organised a joint exhibition in 1921. He had made his debut two years earlier, at an exhibition of the Jewish Art Lovers’ Society (Polish: Klub Miłośników Sztuki Żydowskiej) in Lviv. In 1922, he returned to Przemyśl, finding employment as a teacher of drawing at the J. Słowacki Secondary School No. 1 and developing his career as an artist. In 1923, he took part in an exhibition of the Friends of Fine Arts Society (Polish: Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Sztuk Pięknych) in Lviv. He produced polychrome paintings and designed stained glass windows for the Steinbach Synagogue at Słowackiego Street in Przemyśl. He depicted genre scenes and tackled themes from Jewish customs and legends, he also painted landscapes and portraits. The National Museum of Przemyśl holds only one painting by Bienenstock – a portrait of a Jewish woman titled Inta.