Hanna Krzetuska-Geppertowa, 15% of abstraction

The exhibition on Szewska Street features reproductions of seventeen canvases by Hanna Krzetuska-Geppert, selected from among 47 works once donated by the artist to the collection of the Archdiocese Museum in Wrocław.

The works are publically presented in Wrocław for the first time in decades. In this way, we would like to acquaint the inhabitants of Wrocław with the life and work of an excellent painter and doyen of the local art community. The project is the result of years of efforts of the Art Transparent Foundation intended to commemorate the life, achievements and work of Hanna Krzetuska and professor Eugeniusz Geppert.

In 1920–1924, Hanna Krzetuska studied at the Ludwika Mehoffer Free School of Painting and Drawing in Krakow under the guidance of many outstanding artists, including Zbigniew Pronaszko. She also completed the Artistic Higher Courses for Women. In 1925, she left for Paris to continue her education. She was a member of the Association of Polish Visual Artists and the Zwornik group. In the 1930s, she married painter Eugeniusz Geppert. During World War II, she was active in the underground under the pseudonym “Błysk” (“Flash”), gathering radio surveillance materials for the Information Bulletin of the Home Army. In 1946, she moved to Wrocław and together with her husband succeeded in opening the State Higher School of Fine Arts, where she worked as a teacher for a short time. She showed her works at numerous individual and collective exhibitions. In 1966, she published her memoir entitled 15% abstrakcji. Hanna Krzetuska was one of the founders of the Wrocław Group and an active member of the Wrocław artistic community. After the death of Eugeniusz Geppert, she began efforts to open a museum devoted to him; she also initiated a nationwide competition for young artists named after her husband.

Hanna Krzetuska was an independent artist. Her abstract works, bright and balanced, demonstrate a persistent and intelligent search for the clarity of form. She freely derived inspiration both from her own artistic experience as well as from Polish and French art. Her paintings, which often surprise with Krzetuska’s choice of the formal solutions, testify to her acute sensitivity to colour and texture.

photo: Małgorzata Kujda

SZEWSKA consists of nine double-sided display windows located on Szewska Street (the section between Kotlarska and Nożownicza streets).

photo: Małgorzata Kujda

The gallery shows an average of eight exhibitions per year, both original ones and prepared in cooperation with external entities.

We invite you between February 15 and March 12.

Project co-financed by the Department of Culture of the Wrocław City Hall.