They called her the “princess of Polish art”. She lived in poverty, she died in oblivion

She was born on May 13, 1891 in Kraków as Zofia Lubańska into a wealthy, conservative and religious family. Her father ran a shop, but he went bankrupt. Already in childhood, she showed extraordinary artistic talent. After the handicraft school, she attended Leonard Stroynowski’s private school, and finally the Maria Niedzielska School of Fine Arts for Women in Krakow. After traveling to Italy and visiting Viennese museums, Stryjeńska decided to devote herself to art for good.

Zofia Stryjeńska pretended to be her brother to study at the Academy of Fine Arts. Her marriage ended in scandal

A trick was necessary to implement the plan. In October 1911, Zofia, disguised as her brother Tadeusz, entered the walls of the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. The adventure did not last long, the fraud was quickly revealed and after a year Zofia returned to Krakow. She continued to create, and soon she met the cream of Krakow’s society and bohemia: the Kossaks, the Żeleńskis, Magdalena Samozwoniec and Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska.

In 1916, at the age of 25, she married the architect Karol Stryjeński. Shortly afterwards she left for Zakopane, where, among others, she met Witkacy. The Stryjeński family had three children, but it was not a happy one. During their stay in Paris, Stryjeński returned to Poland, leaving his wife abroad without any means of subsistence. Zofia only got out of France because she sold all her dresses. He also twice tricked her into sending her to a “sanatorium”, i.e. a psychiatric hospital. The press quickly sensed the scandal, it was said that Stryjeński wanted to “make a madwoman” of his wife. She left the hospital after a few days when it was found that she was “not suffering from mental illness or mental infirmity.”

Painter Leon Chwistek and Zofia Stryjeńska Photo National Digital Archives

Zofia Stryjeńska was called the “princess of Polish art”. She even painted plates

They finally divorced in 1927, but the artist decided to keep her husband’s surname. Already a renowned painter, she went to Warsaw, where she got married again and got married again. Her second husband didn’t work, spent her money, cheated on her, and finally infected her with syphilis. – Despite great talents and great opportunities, Stryjeńska was struggling with a lack of money at that time – said Jakub Domoradzki w

When the “princess of Polish art”, as she was called then, was creating, she almost lost herself completely. She designed the decorations of the Polish pavilion at the World Exhibition in Paris, for which she gained great recognition, created a series of “Slavic Gods”, painted, cooperated with theaters, and at the same time designed chocolate boxes for the “pope of chocolate”, as she called Jan Wedel, postcards, plates, among others. incl. for the factory in Ćmielów and toys. She struggled with financial problems and debt for most of her life.

Plates designed by Zofia Stryjeńska Photo Michał Łepecki / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

I’m getting tired of constantly talking about postponed orders. God, God, there is no help, no help. […] I leave the house for days at a time, wandering around in a terrible state of depression

– in 1936 in the daily. After the war, in which many of her paintings were burned, she failed to return to the pedestal. When the Russians entered Krakow, she escaped from Poland. Until her death, she lived in Geneva, still homesick and afraid to return to a country ruled by communists.

In Poland, Zofia Stryjeńska’s achievements were exploited, mass reproductions of her paintings were published on postcards and no royalties were paid to the artist. […] Meanwhile, she lived in poverty

– Piotr Łopuszański in the book “Secrets of the lives of writers and artists”. Zofia Stryjeńska died on February 28, 1976 of a heart attack. She remained in Switzerland until the end of her life.