Objects

The breakup of Hanna and Jan Cybis was not easy for friends. In a letter to Hanna Rudzka-Cybisowa of 7 November 1943, Artur Nacht-Samborski wrote about his friend: "There is a plague peasant; he often talks about his son, who is naturally brilliant as usual" (quoted in: "Artur Nacht- Samborski 1898–1974", exhibition catalog, edited by M. Gołąb, Poznań 1999, p. 79). Cybis recalled: "When Jacek was so small that he was still carried in his arms, and I watched how he reacted vividly to the outside world, pointing to every butterfly or bird (...), I understood that studying nature by a painter is absurd, that we know her from birth, that we only learn painting" (J. Cybis,"Notatki malarskie. Dziennik 1954–1966" (Painting Notes. The Diary 1954-1966), Warsaw 1980, p. 156). This is about Jacek, the eldest son of Helena Zaremba-Cybisowa and Jan Cybis, an architect. He was born on 27 February 1941, in Krzemieniec. During the Soviet occupation, the Cybis family lived in the village of Sapanów on the Ikwa River. Helena taught at school, and Jan translated Eugène Fromentin's "Old Masters" (published in 1956) into Polish. After the Germans entered, they moved to Krzemieniec. Over time, the situation in Volhynia became increasingly difficult. The spouses did not have a job, anti-Polish moods grew, and attacks on the Polish population began. In summer 1943, they decided to leave for Warsaw, which they reached in the fall. From then on, Cybis and Nacht-Samborski (who had been in Warsaw since 1942) saw each other regularly.

A gift from Jack Cybis

Renata Piątkowska