Jan Lebenstein Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

Jan Lebenstein (1930 - 1999) was born in 1930 in Brest-Litovsk and died in 1999 in Krakow. He was a painter and graphic artist who developed an autonomous and distinct style in isolation from dominant trends and directions. Read the full biography

Jan Lebenstein (1930 - 1999) was born in 1930 in Brest-Litovsk and died in 1999 in Krakow. He was a painter and graphic artist who developed an autonomous and distinct style in isolation from dominant trends and directions. After the war, he studied painting at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts under the supervision of Artur Nacht-Samborski. He made his debut at the National Young Art Exhibition "Against War, Against Fascism" in the Warsaw Arsenal in 1955. A year later he joined the Teatr na Tarczyńska, directed by Miron Białoszewski, who became his long-time friend date. During the individual exhibitions held there Lebenstein presented the first "Sketched Figures", "Hieratic Figures" and "Axial Figures", which showed the evolution of the representation of the human figure. Synthetic, vertical shapes, placed centrally, constitute his creative signum. In 1959, Lebenstein won recognition by receiving the Grand Prix at the First International Youth Biennial in Paris. In this period the artist settled permanently in France and in 1971 received French citizenship. His artistic imagination was fueled by ancient mythologies, biblical texts i.e. the cultural background of our civilization together with its contemporary, slightly degenerate version. In 1976 he was awarded the New York Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation Award and in 1998 he received the Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. The largest retrospective exhibition of the artist in Poland took place at the Zachęta Gallery in Warsaw in 1992.