NORBLIN FROM OVERSEAS
The extraordinary and only such collection of Stefan Norblin’s works in Poland, including a portrait of General Douglas MacArthur and large-format canvases of a Maharaja on horseback and his servant, will make a new home at the Regional Museum in Stalowa Wola.
March 10 – April 21, 2013
Regional Museum in Stalowa Wola
1 Sandomierska St.
Following the success of the exhibition “Stefan Norblin (1892-1952). Versatile Artist” in 2011, the Regional Museum became a center for research on the artist’s silhouette. In 2012, thanks to a grant from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, it was possible to purchase for the museum’s collection more than a dozen paintings previously held by the Polish Foundation in San Francisco. And it is these works created in the US, but also in India, that will again be on display at the museum. The exhibition will be enriched with multimedia (including the well-known and well-loved interactive floor imitating a swimming pool in an Indian palace), as well as the presentation of new discoveries about the life of this versatile artist. Also on display for the first time will be Norblin’s brush watercolors, donated to the museum by German researcher Claus Ullrich Simon. The wonderful Norblin adventure continues!
Stefan Norblin (1892-1952), painter, portraitist of the pre-war elite, moreover, graphic artist, poster designer, illustrator, designer of theater costumes – a versatile artist of the interwar period, active mainly in Warsaw. After 1939, via Romania and Iraq, he and his wife, actress Lena Żelichowska, ended up in India, where between 1941 and 1946 he decorated several residences of the Maharajas, including the huge Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur. He skillfully combined large wall and canvas paintings in the art déco style with Indian mythology, portrayed rulers and designed interiors – thus leaving the largest collection of Polish art in Asia. In 1946, he and his wife and son arrived in San Francisco. The artist continued to paint, mainly portraits of well-known Americans and the Polish community, until his tragic death in 1952.
Curator of the exhibition: Anna Szlazak
aszlazak@muzeum.stalowawola.pl
