Erna Rosenstein (1913 - 2004), Character Group

Watercolor, pencil, paper, 12.5 cm x 19.6 cm, signed in pencil underneath: 'E. Rosenstein'



Studied at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts (1932-1934) and in Cracow (1933-1936) in the studio of Wojciech Weiss. She sympathized with the Cracow Group, and after the war took part in the organization of the artistic avant-garde. In 1942, she escaped from the Lviv ghetto. In addition to easel painting, she practiced drawing, collage and poetic works. The artist developed an individual symbolism, freely associating abstract forms with the world of real shapes. As a sign of protest against the schemes of socialist realism in force since 1946, she abandoned artistic activity for five years. In 1977 she received the C. K. Norwid Art Criticism Award, in 1966 the J. Cybis Award for lifetime achievement.