Henryk Stazewski

Henryk Stazewski (1894-1988), described by the appellations “classical modernity” and “apostle of the avant-garde”, was the most important and consistent representative of the geometric abstraction stream in twentieth-century Polish art. A painter, designer of interiors, furniture, theatre sets, typography and book layouts, the author of art-related writings and the editor of numerous publications devoted to the avant-garde around the world, he was connected with some of the leading artistic groups both in Poland, namely, Blok (1924-1926), Praesens (1926-1930) and a.r. (1929-1939), and abroad, in other words, Cercle et Carré (1929–1930) and Abstraction-Création (1932-1939). From the outset, he was not only an active participant in the Polish avant-garde movement, but also maintained close contact with the avant-garde milieu around the world. He forged friendships with artists like Piet Mondrian, Kazimierz Malewicz, Theo van Doesburg and Michel Seuphor.