Katarzyna Kobro was born in Moscow, Russia, on 26 January 1898. Her father was a doctor of Russian descent and mother was of German ancestry. After finishing secondary school, she studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw under Professor Józef Mehoffer. In 1923, she married painter Władysława Strzemienska, whom she had met while studying art at the academy. They moved to Krakow, where Kobro began working with ceramics and designing furniture. She received numerous awards during her career including the Gold Medal of the National Exhibition held in Paris in 1935, the Silver Medal of the International Exposition in Brussels in 1938, and the Grand Prix of the First World War in 1939. She died in Krakow on 21 February 1951.
Early life
Katarzyna Kobro was one of the most famous women artists of the 20th century. Born in 1898, she grew up in Moscow during the Russian Revolution, where she began drawing and painting at a young age. In 1916, she entered the prestigious art school in Moscow, the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where she studied under Ilya Repin and Konstantin Korovin. After graduating in 1920, she worked as a teacher of art at the Moscow Art Theatre.
In 1923, she married the painter Vladimir Kobro, with whom she had three children: Tatiana, Sergey and Natalia. They divorced in 1930, and she later remarried to the sculptor Aleksandr Deyneka. She died in 1990.
Career
Kobro studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw under Kazimir Malevich and Stanislaw Wyspianski. She married fellow artist Jan Dobrzycki in 1927; the couple had one son together. They divorced in 1938, and Kobro moved into her mother’s house in Koluszki. There, she met another painter, Edward Otwinowski, whom she married in 1939. During World War II, Kobro taught art at a school in Słonim, Poland. After the war, the couple settled in Łódz´, where Kobro continued teaching while working on her paintings. Her work became increasingly abstract during the 1950s, and she began experimenting with collage techniques.
In 1956, Kobro founded the “Praesenses” group with architect Zygmunt Bauman. This group included artists such as Henryk Stażewski, Jerzy Nowosielski, Jadwiga Andrzejak, and Tadeusz Kantor, among others. She also participated in exhibitions organized by the Association of Artists in Koluszki, including the 1957 exhibition “Abstract Painting.” In 1958, Kobro exhibited several works at the International Biennial Exhibition of Young Artists in Prague, Czechoslovakia. She also held solo exhibitions in 1959, 1961, 1963, 1965, and 1967.
After moving to Koluszki in 1962, Kobro helped establish the Museum of Art in Koluszki in 1968. She served as director of the museum from 1969 to 1974. Kobro died in 1977 at age 75.
Katarzyna Kobro – 20 artworks – sculpture
1. Naum Gabo
1890 – Naum Gabo
Born in Kiev, Ukraine. His father was a rabbi, and his mother was a teacher of Hebrew literature. He studied medicine at the University of Vienna, graduating in 1892. In 1895 he moved to Berlin where he worked as a doctor and married Anna Kostenko, daughter of a wealthy Jewish family.
1901–1902 Gabo visited Palestine together with his wife. They stayed there for four months and traveled around Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Acre, Jaffa, Haifa, Safed and Tiberias. After returning to Germany, they settled in Munich.
1903–1904 Gabo continued his studies in Paris. There he met Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Gauguin, Franz Marc, August Macke and others.
In 1905 he returned to Munich. From 1906 to 1910 he lived in Berlin. In 1911 he went to Italy. He spent most of the rest of his life in France.
Gabo is considered one of the founders of modern art. He painted mainly landscapes and seascapes, often depicting the Mediterranean. Many of his works are now owned by museums such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in Venice and the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.
In 1926 Gabo and his wife left Germany for good. They settled in Nice, where Gabo died in 1977.
He had no children.
2. Carl Buchheister
Vytautas Kairiuks was born on January 20th, 1890 in Vilnius, Lithuania. He attended the University of Zurich, Switzerland where he studied law. After graduation, he worked as a lawyer in his hometown. In 1914, he joined the Lithuanian army and fought against the Russians during World War I. During the war, he met Carl Buchheister, another soldier. They became friends and remained close throughout their lives.
Kairiuks served in the Lithuanian Army again during World War II. After the German invasion, he escaped to Sweden via Finland. There, he continued working as a lawyer. In 1946, he moved to New York City and opened his own practice. He died there on September 11th, 1961.
3. Vytautas Kairiukstis
The Lithuanian artist Vytautas Kairiuksis (1890 – 1941) was born into a family of artists. His father was a painter and his mother was a sculptor. In 1913 he studied at the art academy in Saint Petersburg, where he met Kazimir Malevich, Wassily Kandinsky, Vladimir Tatlin, Alexander Rodchenko and others. He became famous for being one of the founders of Suprematism. After World War I, he moved to Berlin, where he worked together with Max Beckmann, Kurt Schwitters and Emil Nolde. He died in exile in Paris in 1941.
4. El Lissitzky
The German artist El Lissitzky (1890 – 1941) was born in Berlin into a Jewish family. His father was a doctor; his mother worked as a seamstress. In 1912 he enrolled at the Academy of Arts in Dresden where he studied painting under Max Pechstein and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. He had already begun working in graphic design and illustration, and in 1913 he designed the cover for Der Sturm, a magazine published by Kurt Wolff.
In 1916 he moved to Vienna where he met Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, August Macke and Oskar Schlemmer. There he became associated with the Wiener Werkstätte, an art collective founded by Otto Muehl. From 1917 onwards he focused almost exclusively on graphics, designing posters, book covers and advertisements.
He married Anna Kucharska in 1919. They had three children together: Hans (1920), Gertrud (1922) and Margit (1924). After the Nazi rise to power in 1933, he fled Germany for Paris. There he continued to work as a painter, printmaker, sculptor and designer.
From 1938 to 1940 he lived in New York City. During World War II he designed propaganda posters for the United States government, including those for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the US Army Air Force.
After the war he returned to Germany, settling in Düsseldorf. He died there in 1972.
5. Erich Buchholz
Alexander Rodchenko (1891 – 1956) was one of the most important artists of the early 20th century. His work was characterized by a strong sense of form, color, and materiality. He pioneered abstract painting techniques such as collage, assemblage, and photomontage. He was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, into a family of painters. In 1911 he moved to Paris where he met Marcel Duchamp. Together they developed Cubism. They traveled extensively throughout Europe and North America. In 1919 he married Sonia Terkina. During World War I he worked as a graphic designer and illustrator for the French newspaper Le Matin. After the war he became interested in photography and began experimenting with different photographic processes. He was fascinated by the possibilities of film and experimented with it himself. He died in New York City of cancer.
6. Alexander Rodchenko
Emilio Pettoruti (1892 – 1971), born in Italy, studied painting under Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich and Piet Mondrian, and became one of the most influential artists of the early 20th century. He worked primarily in oil paint and collage, creating abstract works that are characterized by strong geometric forms and bold colors. In the 1920s he began working with his wife Varvara Stepanova, whom he married in 1926. Together they produced many works that combined the work of both artists.
In the mid-1920s, Rodchenko developed a technique called “constructivism,” which involved assembling found objects into sculptures. His constructions often incorporated everyday materials such as paper bags, cardboard boxes and wood planks. Rodchenko’s Constructivist style had great influence on later generations of artists, including Marcel Duchamp, Joseph Beuys, Robert Morris and Sol LeWitt.
Rodchenko died in 1971.
7. Emilio Pettoruti
Sandor Bortnyik (1893 – 1976) was born in Budapest, Hungary. He studied painting under Károly Lotz and Gyula Péteri, and sculpture under József Rippl-Rónai. In 1917 he won the First Prize at the International Exhibition of Young Artists in Venice. His work includes paintings, drawings, sculptures, stained glass windows, mosaics, tapestries, ceramics, woodcarvings, furniture, jewelry, and textiles.
In 1919 he moved to Paris where he worked as a sculptor, painter, illustrator and book designer. In 1920 he joined the Hungarian Communist Party and began working for the Hungarian News Agency. In 1921 he returned to Hungary and became a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. From 1922 to 1924 he was active in the underground movement against the Hungarian Soviet Republic. During World War II he fought on the side of the Allies and was wounded during the fighting in Italy. After being arrested by the Nazis in 1944, he was sent to a concentration camp. While there he painted portraits of fellow prisoners and wrote poetry about his experiences. After the war he settled in Vienna, Austria.
In 1948 he founded the Art Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest. He taught there until his death in 1976.
He died in Budapest, Hungary.
8. Sandor Bortnyik
Henryk Stazewski was born December 8th, 1894 in Krakow, Poland. He died August 9th, 1988 in New York City. In his early life he studied under Josef Myslivecek and later became one of the most important Polish pianists of the 20th century. During World War II, he worked as a piano teacher in occupied Poland. After the war, he moved to Paris where he continued his musical career. He won many awards including the Grand Prix du Disque de l’Académie Charles Cros in 1956.
In 1967, Sandor Bortnyik emigrated to the United States. There, he taught music and founded the Bortnyik Piano School. His students included such famous names as Glenn Gould, Vladimir Horowitz, Arthur Rubinstein, Rudolf Serkin, Isaac Stern, Leon Fleisher, Vladimir Ashkenazy, and others.
9. Henryk Stazewski
Vasyl Yermylov was born on January 5, 1894 in Kiev, Ukraine. He attended school there and later studied at the University of Lviv. In 1917 he joined the Ukrainian National Army and fought against the Bolsheviks during the Polish-Soviet War. After the war he became active in politics and founded the Ukrainian Party. In 1919 he helped found the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, which developed into the Institute of History and Ethnography under the Soviet Union. During World War II he served in the Red Army in Leningrad and participated in the Warsaw uprising. Later he worked as a professor at the Institute of History and Anthropology at the Academy of Science in Lwów. He died on July 25, 1968 in Lwów, Poland.
10. Vasyl Yermylov
Henryk Berlewi born 1894 in Warsaw, Poland died 1967 in London, England. He painted landscapes and figures, often depicting children and women. His work was influenced by his love of nature and Polish folklore.
Berlewi studied art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. In 1928 he went to Paris where he met many artists including Pablo Picasso, André Derain, Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, Juan Gris, Marc Chagall, Max Ernst and others. While there he worked in several studios. He returned to Poland in 1930 and became a member of the “Warsaw School”. During World War II he stayed in France and continued painting.
He lived in London from 1962 until 1965. He died in 1967.
11. Henryk Berlewi
M.H. Maxy was born in Warsaw, Poland, on April 25th 1895. He lived there until he was 10, when his family moved to Vienna, Austria. After finishing school, he studied architecture at the University of Vienna. During World War II, he worked for the Polish government-in-exile in London. He returned to Poland in 1945 and became one of the most important artists of the post-war period. In 1946, he founded Studio Maxy, where he produced many paintings and drawings in oil, watercolor, and ink. His work focused on everyday life, often depicting scenes of poverty and suffering. He died in Krakow, Poland, on January 19th, 1971.
12. M. H. Maxy
Anatoly Petrytsky (1895–1964), a Soviet artist, is best known for his paintings of peasant life, including those depicting the harsh conditions of the Ukrainian steppe. He was born in Kiev into a family of artists. His father was a painter and art teacher; his mother was a sculptress. At age 14, he entered the Kiev Art School under Ivan Kliunovskii and Leonid Pasternak. In 1919 he moved to Petrograd to study painting at the Academy of Fine Arts. There he met fellow student Ilya Mashkovtsev, later one of the most important painters of the Leningrad school. In 1920 he returned to Kiev, where he continued to paint and teach. During the next few years he travelled widely throughout the USSR, making sketches and oil paintings of peasants and workers. In 1923 he became a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR. From 1925 to 1928 he worked in Kharkiv, Ukraine, and in 1929 he settled permanently in Kiev. In 1935 he married Natalya Semenova, a well-known Ukrainian actress. The couple had three children.
In 1936 Petrytsky began working on what became his most famous work, “The Steppes”. This monumental canvas depicts the stark beauty of the Ukrainian steppe, and is considered to be the greatest example of socialist realism in the history of 20th century art. By 1940 it had been exhibited around the world, and in 1941 it was purchased by the US government for $1 million. After the war, it was donated to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, where it remained until 1970. In 1974 it was bought by the National Gallery of Canada.
13. Anatol Petrytsky
Alexander Khvostenko-Khovostov was born in 1895 in Kiev into a family of Ukrainian intelligentsia. He graduated from university in 1916 and became a lawyer. In 1917 he joined the Bolshevik party and soon became a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine. From 1918 to 1920 he worked in the Soviet Trade Commission and was involved in trade negotiations with Germany.
In 1921 Khvostenko-Hvoystov was arrested and sent to Siberia where he spent three years in prison. After his release he returned to Kiev and continued working in the Soviet Trade Commission. During the Second World War Khvostenko-Huvystov served in different positions including deputy minister of foreign trade and minister of foreign trade.
After the war Khvostenko-Hyvostov worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and represented Ukraine in international organizations such as the UN General Assembly.
In 1955 Khvostenko-hyvostov was elected to the Supreme Council of the USSR. In 1958 he was appointed chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Crimea.
On January 17, 1960 Khvostenko-khvostov died in Moscow.
14. Alexander Khvostenko-Khvostov
Marcel Janco 1895 – 1984 was born in Lviv, Poland on September 26, 1895. He studied painting, graphic arts, sculpture, architecture, and music. In 1938 he moved to Paris where he became one of the most important representatives of surrealism.
In 1939 he returned to his native city of Lviv and continued working there. During World War II, he worked as a war artist. After the war he settled in Prague and lived there until his death in 1984. His works are in museums around the world.
15. Marcel Janco
Laszlo Moholy-Naty 1894 – 1946
Laszlo Moholny Nagy was born on February 21st, 1894 in Budapest, Hungary. He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna during World War I. After the war he taught at the Bauhaus School in Dessau. In 1920 he moved to Berlin where he worked with Paul Klee. His work was influenced by Cubism and Futurism. He designed posters, murals, furniture, textiles, costumes, and stage sets. During his career he exhibited widely throughout Europe. In 1924 he founded the Hungarian Artists Association. In 1928 he became the director of the New Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany. He died in 1946.
16. Laszlo Moholy-Nagy
Anni Albers is a German artist whose work helped define abstract expressionism during the 1940s. She studied under Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius and later became one of his students. Her paintings are characterized by bold colors and strong lines. In 1944 she married Laszlo Moholy- Nagy, a Hungarian architect and designer. Together they developed a style called Constructivism, which combined art and architecture into a single form. They worked together throughout their lives and collaborated on projects such as the New York World’s Fair and the 1964–65 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art exhibition, “The Responsive Eye.”
17. Anni Albers
Richard Paul Lohse was born February 2, 1902, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, to German immigrant parents. He attended Marquette University School of Dentistry where he graduated in 1925. In 1926, he married Anni Albers. They had three children together; Richard Jr., John, and Mary.
In 1928, he opened his own practice, R. P. Lohse & Co., in Milwaukee. He became one of America’s leading orthodontists, treating celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Crawford, Judy Garland, and Marilyn Monroe. His work earned him membership into the American Academy of Orthodontics.
Lohse retired from practicing dentistry in 1974, but continued to pursue research in orthodontics. He died December 3, 1988, in Los Angeles, California, USA.
18. Richard Paul Lohse
José Pedro Costigliolo was born in Brazil on February 4th, 1902. He was a Brazilian painter and sculptor. He died in Rio de Janeiro on January 28th, 1985. His works are part of several museums around the world including the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Costigliolo began his artistic career as a student of painting at the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes where he studied under the direction of Carlos Gomes. In 1923, he moved to Paris where he continued his studies at the Academie Julian and became friends with artists such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, André Derain, Georges Braque and Constantin Brâncuși.
In 1930, he returned to Brazil and settled permanently in São Paulo. During his lifetime, he produced over 600 paintings and sculptures. Among his most famous works include the “Cristal de Ouro”, “A Vida é um Mistério”, “O Sol e o Vento”, “Os Pássaros da Floresta”, “As Canções das Águas”, “Espelho do Tempo”, “Navegação”, “A Mãe e os Filhos”, “A Grande Festa”, “Noites em Brasília”, “Vitória no Mar” and “O Dia”.
He received numerous awards throughout his life, among them the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Biennale in 1948 and the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1955. He was named one of the 100 greatest living artists by Time Magazine in 1974.
Today, many of his works are housed in major art collections across the globe. Some of his best known pieces include “O Sol e o vento”, “O Cristal de Ouro”, and “A vida é um mistério.”
19. José Pedro Costigliolo
The Brazilian architect José Pedro Costa costigliola designed some of Brazil’s most iconic buildings including the National Congress building in Brasilia, the São Paulo Museum of Art, the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and the Bank of America Tower in New York City. He died in 1985.
Costa was born in Rio de Janeiro on September 8, 1906. His father was a civil engineer and his mother was a teacher. In 1921 he graduated from the Escola Politécnica da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ). After graduating, he worked as an assistant professor at the university.
In 1930, Costa won the competition to design the headquarters of the Banco Nacional de Crédito e Desenvolvimento (Brazilian National Development and Credit Bank), known today as BNDES. The project was completed in 1934.
In 1936, Costa began working on the construction of the Palácio do Planalto, the presidential palace in Brasília. He continued designing government buildings throughout the 1940s.
During World War II, Costa joined the Brazilian Army Corps of Engineers and served as a lieutenant colonel. While serving in the army, he studied architecture at the College of Fine Arts in Belo Horizonte.
After the war, Costa returned to work designing public schools and universities. He received several awards for his work during this period, including the Prêmio Pritzker in 1947.
In 1950, Costa became one of the founding members of the Instituto de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (IAURO). IAURO was founded in 1952 and is now called IAU.
20. Burgoyne Diller
The American architect died today in Los Angeles. He was 91.
Born in New York City in 1916, he studied architecture at Columbia University. In 1939, he joined forces with his friend William Haines, and together they founded the firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Their most famous project is probably the World Trade Center memorial site.
In the 1950s, Diller designed several buildings for the United Nations, including the General Assembly building. His work earned him the Pritzker Prize in 1999.
He married twice. His second wife was writer Alice B. Toklas. They had one child.
