woodcut, paper, 15 x 15 cm
woodcut, paper, 15 x 15 cm in light passe - partout
Halina Laura Siemieńska h. Leszczyc, pseudonym "Zygmunt" (born June 30, 1913 in Warsaw, died August[a] 3, 1944 there) - Polish graphic artist, participant in the Warsaw Uprising.Halina Laura Siemieńska was the daughter of Józef Jan Siemieński (1882-1941), doctor of philosophy, historian, archivist, director of the Central Archives in Warsaw, who died in the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1941, and Halina née Zawadzka h. Rogala (1890-1943), social activist. Halina Siemieńska was mistakenly arrested by the Gestapo in 1943, instead of her daughter, and was killed during the action at the Arsenal on March 26, 1943; her brother was lawyer and bank director Zbigniew Siemieński (1909-1989). Halina Siemieńska was the cousin of Home Army soldier Tadeusz Zawadzki alias "Zoska," the author of the plan for the Arsenal action.
In 1932-1938 she studied in the workshops of the Academy of Fine Arts: in 1932-1933 under the tutelage of Władysław Skoczylas, in 1933-1934 under Felicjan Szczęsny Kowarski, and in 1934-1938 under Edmund Bartłomiejczyk. During the period of her studies, her works were awarded several times: in 1934 she won the first and second prizes for the composition of solids and planes, in the academic year 1936/1937 she received the second prize for applied graphics, and in 1938 the third prize for printmaking.
During World War II Siemieńska was a liaison officer with the alias "Zygmunt," "Zygmuś." In 1941-1943, she served as warehousekeeper of the explosives plant of the Union of Armed Struggle's Union of Retaliation, and then of the Kedyw AK at 15 Asphaltowa St. In 1942, she received the Cross of Valor for putting out a fire at the warehouse at the risk of her life. In 1943 she held the same leadership position at the warehouse at 14 Pultuska Street (until April 13, 1943), where there is now a plaque bearing her name. During the Warsaw Uprising, she was assigned to the "North" group, where she served as warehousekeeper of the weapons warehouse of the "Lesnik" Home Army grouping at 40 Twarda Street, and later at 15 Krochmalna Street, as deputy production manager. In August, she was accidentally shot by an AK soldier, and died in a hospital on Sliska Street.
Creativity
Her work was mainly in 1939 and the years of occupation. She cooperated with the Graphic Desk of the Home Army Headquarters, which brought together artists who were to prepare posters, postage stamps or soldier emblems during the uprising.Siemieńska created mainly woodcuts: Panorama of Lviv (1939, signed), Sitting Old Woman (1940, signed), Town (1940), Ruins of a Castle/Town (1941), color woodcuts: Fields in Winter (pre-1939 signed), By the Glass, and linocuts: Neptune's Fountain with a fragment of the cathedral (Lviv, signed and dated "H. Siemieńska 1939)." [after Wikipedia].
