We do not know any photograph of the sculptor and architect Ryszard Moszkowski (1906–1945). We know equally little about himself. Moszkowski was born and lived for many years in Belgium –where he also studied– and in France; he returned to Poland in 1937. In Paris, he exhibited at the Autumn and Tuileries Salons (1931 and 1935, respectively). His return to Warsaw might have been related to the sculptural work for the city’s first skyscraper (supraportes above the side entrances), erected by the British insurance company “Prudential” in the years 1931–1933 after a design by Marcin Weinfeld.
One of the sculptures has survived and can now be found, along with several others, in the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw. More than a dozen sculptural works by Moszkowski are also in the collection of the Jewish Historical Institute. This repertory can now be enlarged by the beautiful drawing from the POLIN Museum. The sketch of a woman, man and child, drawn in Paris, is entitled “Le souci” [Sorrow]. This ironic title may refer to the birth of a child.
We know the most about the fate of Moszkowski during the war. The sculptor’s wife was the famous pianist Róża Etkin, winner of the 3rd Prize at the 1st International Chopin Piano Competition (1927). In February 1939, they got married (“Głos Gminy Żydowskiej” 1939, no. 5–6, p. 138). They spent the war in Warsaw, on the so-called on the “Aryan” side, as the Roszkowski married couple. Barbara Loeffler-Zbrożyna thus recalled her wartime education: “I was introduced to the mysterious world of art […] by a newly met man: Ryszard [M]oszkowski, a painter, sculptor, architect, skilful writer. It was in his home, in the atmosphere of the highest culture, that I took my first steps in sculpture, drawing and painting. I liked his works, he brought me close to French artists: Maillol, Despiau, Gimondd, Valery, Giacometti, as well as Etruscan sculpture. They had a gentle and warm attitude towards people, just like Ryszard had” (quoted after: A. M. Leśniewska,“ Barbara Zbrożyna”, Orońsko 2006, p. 33).
The Moszkowskis lived in Żoliborz which is also the last trace of the tragic wartime existence of the sculptor and the pianist. We do not know how and where exactly Róża and Ryszard Moszkowski died. They were most likely shot by the Germans in January 1945 (more information: E. Toniak, “Ryszard Moszkowski: on absence”, “Pamiętnik Sztuk Pięknych” [Fine Art Journal] 2017, No. 12, p. 185–194).
Donated by Marek Sawicki who found the drawing in a pre-war magazine kept in the archives of the Moszkowski family.
Renata Piątkowska
