Three figures

Maria Jarema is a Krakow-based artist who skilfully created her own artistic identity, and at the same time, played an essential role in creating the artistic environment. During the Second World War, she was naturally preoccupied with matters relating to her private life; in 1943, she gave birth to a son. Her future husband, Kornel Filipowicz, took part in the September campaign; after escaping from captivity, he became involved in underground activity. He was later arrested and imprisoned in the Groß-Rosen and Sachsenhausen concentration camps, and one of her brothers became seriously ill and died. Despite these complex life events, she felt the artistic imperative all the time. In the early period after the war, several of her works - gouaches and temperas - often featured reminiscences of reality (including German soldiers). One such tempera is in the collection of the National Museum in Szczecin. They are all painted in a highly simplified manner. The Szczecin work depicts three figures that look as if they were mechanised. They were meant to create the semblance of toys that submit to an imposed rhythm. Among the images in these works, we can also find Hitler as a puppet. Horror seeps out of these grotesque works. On the head of one of the figures is painted a ladder that topples the roof of a house. The actions of the puppets of history are shown as a way to break down the house, a symbol of stability and security. The work is an expression of war experience, which had to find its outlet. With time, the artist's experience recedes into the background, and her artistic interests focus on formal explorations.

Beata Małgorzata Wolska