Objects

During the difficult and impoverished London years of Ewa Kuryluk (1976–1978), Franciszka and Stefan Themerson created a home for her, which the artist and writer later recalled with tenderness and gratitude:

“I lived five minutes away from them, and Franciszka, seeing that I was a poor eater, began inviting me regularly for afternoon tea, for tea with croissants. […] Instead of complaining about anything, they were masters of jokes, anecdotes, and fantastical stories. We had picnics, lay on the grass, sang songs, and went to camera obscura performances – a little shadow theatre […]. Stefan joked that they went there with me like grandparents with their granddaughter.”

(E. Kuryluk, „Eskapizm. Idealizm. Filozofia przyzwoitości. Wysłuchała Renata Piątkowska”, in: „Przynoszę rzecz, przynoszę historię”, Warsaw 2016, pp. 44–46).

The portrait of Franciszka Themerson drawn by Ewa Kuryluk is a tribute to her friend, an outstanding artist, a warm and sincere depiction of an elderly woman whom Kuryluk described as:

“Franciszka, a painter of white, was a true quiet heroine.”

Speaking about the Themersons’ marriage, she added:

“[Stefan] modeled his ideal of a decent human being on Franka, and his ideal of human courage on Jasia [Reichardt, Franciszka’s niece]. The three of them became a model for me” (pp. 51–52).

Gift of Ewa Kuryluk.

Renata Piątkowska