Objects

Photograph of Genia – an acquaintance of Samuel Szczekacz – at the exhibition of the Trade Union of Polish Artists in Łódź, Institute of Art Propaganda, branch in Łódź. Genia was photographed against the backdrop of works from Szczekacz's "Paintings Portfolio". The exhibition, opened from 10 January to 8 February 1939, was the last presentation of Szczekacz's works in Poland. By this time the artist was no longer in Łódź. He had left for Belgium.

According to the photographic documentation of the exhibition, 16 lithographs from the "Paintings Portfolio" were shown. The roughly A4-sized cards on which the lithographs were placed were not framed, but slipped behind a transparent cover, which made the whole collection look like a unified whole. The lithographs in this arrangement, presented together with the title page, create a rhythm of composition vertically and horizontally (11 × 16 cm) or in a square (16 × 16 cm). Neoplastic compositions are marked by the use of a golden division; Cubist compositions by the dynamism and contrast of line, plane and colour; Unist compositions were built from organic forms, soft lines and interpenetrating planes. The works also include an intermediate composition – cubist and neoplastic – and the aforementioned unist composition of letterforms.

The Łódź exhibition featured works by Szczekacz previously exhibited in November and December 1938 in Kraków and Lviv. Fifteen of Szczekacz's cubist, neo-plastic and unist compositions formed the lithographic "Teka malarska" (Paintings Portfolio). His "Cubist Sculpture" was also on display ("Katalog Wystawy Związku Zawodowego Polskich Artystów Plastyków w Łodzi, Kraków–Lwów" 1938 (15 XI – 30 XII)', cat. no. 78–93). | RP