Louis Lille (1897 Podwłoczyska nad Zbruczem - 1957 Paris), Birth of the

oil/canvas
Dimensions: 57 x 70 cm
Inscribed on the reverse: 'J.H.(...) | 194(...)', on the frame a sticker of the framing studio

Origins
DESA Unicum, October 2017
private collection, Poland
Sopot Auction House, November 2018
institutional collection, Warsaw

Biography
A representative of the Surrealist trend in the interwar period and metaphorical art in the postwar period. He studied medicine in Lviv. In 1918-19, he established contacts with a group of Expressionists centered around the magazine "Zdrój" from Poznan, and began working with the magazine "Formists" from Krakow. In 1920, together with the Formists, he exhibited his works in Lviv, Krakow and Warsaw. In 1921, he left for Berlin. He took up studies at the Weimar Bauhaus after which he returned to Lviv. He was involved in illustration and set design, and did decoration projects for experimental theaters in Lviv. Since 1930 he was a member of the association "Artes" and also of the Union of Professional Artists. Lille was involved in the popularization and criticism of art, among other things, conducting radio programs on the subject. He designed scenery for the Bela Katz Ballet of Lviv, the Vilna Troupe and the Lviv Opera House. In 1934 he organized the museum of the Jewish Religious Community in Lviv and became its director. In 1937 he moved permanently to Paris. During the occupation, he was active in the structures of the Polish resistance movement in France. After the war, he served as president of the Association of Polish Artists in France and was a member of the Société des Peintres-Graveurs.