“Hanna Krzetuska. It’s me who paints!” is a bilingual publication dedicated to the life and work of Hanna Krzetuska (1903-1999), a painter, educator, and activist, who was a co-founder of the Wrocław School of Art and Design (PWSSP, later ASP) in Wrocław. Krzetuska played a significant role in shaping the post-war artistic community in Wrocław and was a co-founder of the Wrocław School, also known as the Group.
“…we aim to place Hanna Krzetuska in a broader context—not as the wife of Prof. Eugeniusz Geppert, the first post-war rector of the Wrocław School of Art and Design, but as a courageous artist, an abstractionist making radical artistic choices contrary to the views of her husband and some of the contemporary art community,” says the publication’s editor, Michał Bieniek, curator, and president of the Art Transparent Foundation. “This time, staying within the herstorical current, in addition to Krzetuska, we also invoke other important figures for the Group: Wanda Gołkowska and Krzesława Maliszewska. It is crucial here to recall the work of both Krzetuska herself and other female artists associated with the Group, who have been less visible than their male counterparts in previous historiography,” he adds.
The book presents a condensed biography and includes a selection of works by Hanna Krzetuska found in public and private collections. Reflections on Krzetuska’s life and legacy, along with a historical introduction by Ewa Pluta, are deepened by contemporary perspectives provided by sculptor Karolina Szymanowska and art curator and researcher Zofia Reznik. The narrative is complemented by transcripts of two debates held on October 15, 2022, during the “This Is My Painting!” forum, featuring participants such as Anna Szpakowska-Kujawska, Ewa Ludwiśńska-Chwałczyk, Mira Żelechower-Aleksiun, and Magda Podsiadły.
What you’ll find inside:
- A text by artist Karolina Szymanowska on working on the exhibition “15% Abstraction” (Geppert’s Apartment, 2018) and drawing inspiration from Hanna Krzetuska’s work and persona. The text will be illustrated with sketches from the exhibition’s creative process.
- A text by Ewa Pluta providing insights into Hanna Krzetuska’s biography and historical background.
- A text by Zofia Reznik addressing the herstorical perspective of Wrocław art in a broader context, considering the work of the Wrocław Group of artists and discussing the issues of feminist readings of history.
- Transcription of the debate “Geppert’s Painting Wife: Realities, Silences, and Relationships” with participants Anna Szpakowska-Kujawska, Mira Żelechower-Aleksiun, Ewa Ludwińska-Chwałczyk, and Magda Podsiadły.
- Transcription of the debate “Sensitive to Color: On the Meanings of Locality and Intergenerational Dialogue” with participants Karina Marusińska, Katarzyna Kmity, Anna Kołodziejczyk, and Daniela Tagowska.
The publication is a result of the exhibition at the Geppert’s Apartment gallery in 2022, which was the culmination of the Art Transparent Foundation’s long-term efforts to commemorate the figures, achievements, and contributions of Wrocław’s contemporary art pioneers.
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Hanna Krzetuska. It’s me who paints!
Publisher – Art Transparent
Editor – Michał Bieniek
Text authors – Ewa Pluta, Karolina Szymanowska, Zofia Reznik
Graphic design – Projektor Group
Photographs – Art Transparent Foundation Archive, photos by Małgorzata Kujda, photos by Stanisław Kokurewicz (from the “Memory and Future” Center collection)
