Władysław Strzemiński

Painter. Born 1893 in Minsk into a family of Polish gentry, his father is a Lieutenant-Colonel officer of the Tsarist Army. Parents imagine him a military career, 1904-11 studies at the Tsar Alexandre II Cadet School in Moscow. 1911-14 studies at The Tsar Nicholaus Military School of Engineering (Voyennoe Inzhyneryinoe Uchylishche) in Petersburg, gains wide knowledge in the history of architecture and military construction. July 1914, shortly afler graduating, delegated as an officer of sappers to the Osowiec fortress in the Bialystok District; during WWI takes part in military operations on the Eastern Front, in command of a sappers' unit. May 1916 seriously injured by the explosion of a grenade in trenches, his eyeball injured, and right thigh and left forearm amputated in Prochorov Hospital in Moscow, what ruins his hopes for a military career, he is to use crutches till the end of his life. Meets his future wife Katarzyna Kobro who is a sister of mercy in the hospital and intends to study sculpture.

1917 fascinated by the private art collection of the factory owner Shchukin in Moscow, which includes a wide variety of French paintings from Impressionism to Cubism. Probably starts to study history and theory of art, also inspired by the artistic events in the wake of the October Revolution. May-November 1918 takes part in the meetings of the Subsection of Art and Artistic Industry, headed by Tatlin, within the framework of IZO Narkompros; the group includes Malevich and Pevsner. Autumn 1918 starts studying in the First Free Artistic Studios (SVOMAS, Svobodniye Masterskiye), opened in September in the old Strogonov School in Moscow; meets Kobro there again. December 1918 his paintings are among the ones purchased by IZO Narkompros for the prospective Museum of Artistic Culture in Petersburg.

Dies 1952 in Łódź.

Comprehensive resource on Strzemiński
Remigiusz Grzela: Katarzyna Kobro i Wladyslaw Strzeminski. Rozmowa z ich córką – Niką, 2005 (Polish)

See also: Poland#Constructivists