Objects

"In 1943, the Cybis family and two-year-old Jacek came from Volhynia to Warsaw. In 1944, they survived the uprising here. After its fall, like all civilians, they were expelled and found themselves in the so-called transit camp in Pruszków (Dulag 121 Pruszków). Cybis found Artur Nacht-Samborski. In the fall of 1944, they managed to get to Milanówek, where they all found shelter in the villa of the sculptor Jan Szczepkowski. Cybis recalled this difficult, unsafe time just before the end of the war: "I was lying with Artek under the sarcophagus of Piłsudski (First Prize) under the floor of Szczepkowski's studio in Milanowek, hiding from the round-up. The Germans' boots were over our heads. Fortunately they had no dogs". (J. Cybis, "Notatki malarskie. Dzienniki 1954-1966" [Painters' Notes: Journals 1954-1966], Warsaw 1980, p. 253). Jacek Cybis does not remember Krzemieniec, where he was born, nor much of his stay in Milanówek. It was at this time that these miniature portraits of Jacek and his mother Helena Zaremba-Cybis were made (see MPOLIN-M766, MPOLIN-M767).

A gift from Jacek Cybis

Renata Piątkowska