Berezowska Maja, Wiszniewski Kazimierz, Erotic, woodcut, 1955.

Erotic Scene. Original woodcut, 15.8 x 21.5 cm, including the frame 34.3 x 39.3 cm, made by K. Wiszniewski based on a drawing by Maja Berezowska, designed in 1955.

The woodblock from which the engraving was printed is described and signed: KRAKÓW | 12.VIII.1955r. | K.W. | I | PROJECT M. BEREZOWSKA | CUT BY K. WISZNIEWSKI | TREE - WILD PEAR . Graphic signed at the bottom of the block with the mark of Maja Berezowska (Mars/Venus).

The engraving is a unique result of collaboration between the two artists. Maja Berezowska's specialties were watercolor and drawing; she herself never worked with woodcuts. A skilled wood engraver, Vishnevsky, usually dealing with more serious subjects, gave her very feminine line a strong masculine character.

The print may be later than 1955; occasional prints from the surviving woodblock were possible, to be given as gifts to friends of the previous owner of the matrix, who was friends with Maja Berezowska, among others.
The woodblock itself is currently in our collection; we have not made our own prints from it. Among the photos of the woodblock added to this item, there is also a photograph of it, but for informational purposes only, it is not included in the auction offer.

Maja Berezowska, alias. Maria Berezowska (1898 - 1978) - prominent Polish painter, graphic artist, caricaturist and stage designer.
She studied at a private art school in St. Petersburg (1908-1909), and studied at art colleges in Krakow (1910-1912) and Munich (1913). In the interwar period, she gained fame as an author of erotic drawings, and illustrations in satirical magazines (Cyrulik Warszawski, Szpilki and Lvov Szczutek ). From 1933 to 1936 she spent time in Paris, where she was successful as a cartoonist and caricaturist. She continued her cooperation with "Szpilki" even after the war. Her illustrations were also published by the weekly magazines "Theater," "Nowa Kultura" and "Przekrój." She was also the author of illustrations to works of world and Polish literature. In the 1930s she designed sets for cabarets and costumes for, among others, revue stage stars Zula Pogorzelska and Hanka Ordonówna. During World War II she was imprisoned in the Pawiak prison, and from 1942 in the Ravensbrück camp. After the war, she worked as a stage designer for the Lodz Opera, the Cameral and Comedy Theaters in Warsaw, the Polish Theater in Poznan, the Lodz Land in Lodz, the Artistic Ensemble of the Polish Army, and the United Artistic Enterprises "Estrada."

Kazimierz Wiszniewski (1894 - 1960)-graphic artist and painter, studied at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts under Pieńkowski and Letz, at the private school of Krzyżanowski and at the MSSZ under Milosz Kotarbiński, Trojanowski and Skoczylas. He was mainly engaged in woodcutting.
He made ex-librises and engravings of religious subjects, among others, using this technique.