Maria Spain-Neumann(1917-1980),Musicians,1940s

Woodcut, paper 18 x 13 cm in light passe - partout.

Maria Zofia Janina Hiszpanska-Neumann is a Polish artist working in printmaking and painting, as well as a book illustrator. She began her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw under professors Karol Tiche, E. Czerwiński, Stanisław Ostoi-Chrostowski and Wacław Waśkowski. She graduated in 1939, but by the outbreak of war she had not managed to complete her diploma. During the German occupation, she was active in the Union of Armed Struggle. On June 19, 1941, she was arrested along with the family of Professor Józef Jan Siemieński and imprisoned in Radom, then in Pinczow. On April 10, 1942, she was deported to the Ravensbrück camp, where she was given the number 10219. While in the camp, she made many drawings. She worked as a forced laborer at the Neubrandenburg armaments plant, escaped during the evacuation in April 1945 and lived to see liberation in the forest. She mainly engaged in book graphics. She created many woodcuts. She worked with the publishing house "Wiedza", then "Książka i Wiedza". In the 1950s she collaborated with "Tygodnik Powszechny". She created many drawings devoted to life in concentration camps, some of which are in the collection of the Ravensbrück museum.