We owe the memory of Gela Sekstain-Lichtenstein’s life and work to the conspiratorial archive of the Warsaw ghetto-Ringelblum Archive (https://cbj.jhi.pl/documents/733243/0/, access 10.20.2020). When Germans initiated the mass genocide in Treblinka, members of Oneg Shabbat hided in August 1942 over 300 watercolours, drawings, photographs, catalogues and documents of Sekstain-Lichtenstein and her husband Izrael Lichtenstein (1904–1943) who was an associate of Emanuel Ringelblum.
Sekstain’s watercolours and drawings preserved by the Ringelblum Archive present her as a self aware, talented artist, with master skills in the difficult technique of watercolour painting. She was able to bring out the subtle and powerful psychological truths of the people she portrayed by the use of her colourful, blurry composition.
Portrait of a Woman from the POLIN collection is one of the few of Sekstain’s works which survived outside of the Ringelblum Archive. She painted it probably during her stay in Krakow, where, as she claimed, she studied at the Academy of Fine Arts (the Academy’s archive mentioned her only as a free listener participating in Wojciech Weiss’s classes in 1935–1936). The artist debuted in 1931 during the Annual Event of the Jewish Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts [Polish: Doroczny Salon Żydowskiego Towarzystwa Krzewienia Sztuk Pięknych], while the last exhibition she participated in was the 5th Jubilee Salon [Polish: V Salon Jubileuszowy] organised in February 1939 by The Association of Jewish Fine Artists in Poland [Polish: Stowarzyszenie Żydowskich Artystów Plastyków w Polsce]. Since her return to Warsaw (her home town) in 1937 she often visited the famous ``Buda`` – a club for Jewish writers and journalists (located at Tłomackie and later at Graniczna Street), as can be judged by the numerous portraits of the visiting authors painted by her.
In her testament-letter attached to the works deposited in the Archive she confides:
"Standing between life and death, being sure that I will die rather than stay alive, I want to say goodbye to my friends and my work.
10 years of work – I was collecting, then ripping apart, then working again. I was preparing to present my paintings, especially the portrayals of a Jewish child. Now I am trying to save what I can until there’s no more space. I leave the rest up to fate […]" (cbj.jhi.pl/documents/733243/0/, access 20.10.2020).
The painter died together with her husband and daughter Margolit in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in April of 1943.
Donated by Piotr Setkiewicz
Renata Piątkowska
