Zdzislaw Czermanski (1900-1970), First Marshal of Poland

Lithograph 47 x 33 cm in light original passe - partout from the period.

The lithograph in question comes from a portfolio that Pilsudski had hung for himself at the Belvedere.

Zdzislaw Czermanski (born 1900 in Krakow, died January 27, 1970 in New York) - Polish graphic artist-cartoonist, painter, author of memoirs, and legionary and officer in the Polish Army.

Beginning in 1920 he published caricatures of personalities from the world of politics in the weekly "Szczutek", later also in "Cyrulik Warszawski". His caricatures were devoid of malicious deformations and were liked by the portrayed persons. Jozef Pilsudski ordered 13 of his caricatures to be hung on the walls of the Belvedere.

In 1923-1924 he studied drawing and painting with Kazimierz Sichulski at the Municipal Industrial School in Lviv. In 1925 he went to Paris, where he continued his studies with Fernand Léger. In 1930 there was a solo exhibition of his works at the Charpentier Gallery. From France he left for England, where he drew for Graphic magazine, and in 1931 he went to the USA at the invitation of Fortune Magazine, with which he worked until 1934.

In 1935 he returned to Poland and began working with "Literary News". In 1939 he organized an exhibition "100 Great Poles" in the pavilion of the Institute of Art Propaganda.

At the beginning of World War II, through Vilnius, Scandinavia, France, Portugal and Brazil, he arrived in New York in 1941. He again began working with "Fortune" and the magazines "Look" and "Life".At the end of his life he made a series of 50 portraits of world personalities, purchased by the University of Texas at Austin.