Marcel Słodki ( pl, Marceli Słodki; 11 November 18921943/1944) was a Polish painter, graphic artist and stage designer. He was

post-impressionist Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction aga ...

associated with the

dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich), Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 192 ...

ist movement. He died during World War II, after being arrested in France and sent to the Nazi German Auschwitz concentration camp .

Biography

Słodki was born to a secular, liberal Jewish family in

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of cant ...

(then part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

). His father was a bank director. From 1910 to 1913 Słodki studied in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

at the

Academy of Fine Arts The following is a list of notable art schools. Accredited non-profit art and design colleges * Adelaide Central School of Art * Alberta College of Art and Design * Art Academy of Cincinnati * Art Center College of Design * The Art Institute ...

and then spent the next year travelling through Europe. 1916_Marcel_Słodki_Cabaret-Voltaire

He moved to Switzerland in 1914, where for a time he worked with architects designing town plans. He became involved early on with the

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich), Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 192 ...

art movement. He designed the poster for the 1916 opening of Dadaist performance at Cabaret Voltaire in Zürich. His work was presented there beginning in 1917, and he held his first individual exhibition, also in Zürich, in 1919. From 1921 to 1924 he lived in Germany, where he designed theater sets for the cabaret Die wilde Bühne and worked on the Berlin magazine ''

Die Aktion ''Die Aktion'' ("The Action") was a German literary and political magazine, edited by Franz Pfemfert and published between 1911 and 1932 in Berlin-Wilmersdorf; it promoted literary Expressionism and stood for left-wing politics. To begin with, ...

''. Later, he moved to France. His works were shown at several exhibitions, including (Paris, 1928), an exhibition in

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Scienc ...

(1933), an exhibition in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is official ...

(1934, possibly related to ),

Salon d'Automne The Salon d'Automne (; en, Autumn Salon), or Société du Salon d'automne, is an art exhibition held annually in Paris, France. Since 2011, it is held on the Champs-Élysées, between the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, in mid-October. The f ...

(Paris, 1937), and an exhibition in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

(1938). He married a painter, Macha Boulanger. Following the

German invasion German invasion may refer to: Pre-1900s * German invasion of Hungary (1063) World War I * German invasion of Belgium (1914) * German invasion of Luxembourg (1914) World War II * Invasion of Poland * German invasion of Belgium (1940) ...

and

occupation of France The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied ...

, he lived in Brive-la-Gaillarde, first continuing with his public work, even exhibiting it, but eventually going into hiding. He was arrested in 1943 in Paris, but was released or escaped (accounts vary). He hid in woodlands near Paris, and then moved to Bourg-Saint-Maurice, Chambéry (then under Italian occupation). After the Germans took control of Chambéry, he was arrested again, on 14 December 1943, and was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp where he died within a year.

Works

His art style is described as

. He has been associated with the Dada art movement, as well as the Polish

Kapists Kapists or KPists (Polish: ''Kapiści'', from KP, the Polish acronym for the Paris Committee), also known as the Colourists, were a group of Polish painters of the 1930s who dominated the Polish artistic landscape of the epoch. Contrary to Polish ...

art movement. His early works were also influenced by

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

, but most did not survive, as they were destroyed by the artist himself in an act he later regretted. Most of his paintings are

landscapes A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the p ...

and

still life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, m ...

s, although he created some portraits as well as several paintings of fishermen and circus artists.

References

External links

Unauthorized Salvadoran citizenship certificate issued to Marcel Słodki (b. November 8, 1892 in Łódź) by George Mandel-Mantello, First Secretary of the Salvadoran Consulate in Switzerland and sent to him in the Drancy transit camp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slodki, Marcel 1892 births 1944 deaths Polish people who died in Auschwitz concentration camp 20th-century Polish painters Jewish Polish artists Jewish painters Post-impressionist painters Dadaists Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni Artists from Łódź

Biography

Works

References

Further reading

External links