Zdzisław Czermański:
An Inventory of His Collection at the Harry Ransom Center
| Creator: | Czermański, Zdzisław, 1896-1970 | |
| Title: | Zdzisław Czermański Collection | |
| Dates: | circa 1949 | |
| Extent: | 51 paintings and drawings (5 print boxes, 1 flat file folder) | |
| Abstract: | The collection consists of fifty mixed-media paintings which are satirical portraits of many famous artists of the twentieth century, including painters, sculptors, writers, conductors and musicians, including Gertrude Stein, Marc Chagall, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Jean Sibelius. The media are usually a combination of one or more of the following: tempera, watercolor, chalk, charcoal, graphite pencil, and colored pencil. | |
| Call Number: | Art Collection AR-00057 | |
| Language: | English |
| Access: | Open for research. A minimum of twenty-four hours is required to pull art materials to the Reading Room. |
Administrative Information
| Acquisition: | Purchases, 1969 (R5177), 2004 (R15309) | |
| Processed by: | Alice Egan, 1997 |
| Repository: |
Scope and Contents
| Zdzisław Czermański (1896-1970) was born in Kraków, Poland and went to France and Brazil before settling in the United States in 1943. He is known for his caricatures. | ||
| The Zdzisław Czermański Collection consists of fifty mixed-media paintings by Czermański which are satirical portraits of many famous artists of the twentieth century, including painters, sculptors, writers, conductors, and musicians. Among the figures represented are Gertrude Stein, Marc Chagall, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Jean Sibelius. A complete index of subjects is included in this finding aid. The works all date from circa 1949 and are arranged by accession number. | ||
| The media used are usually a combination of one or more of the following: tempera, watercolor, chalk, charcoal, graphite pencil, and colored pencil. Many pieces are bold in color although some are sketch-like and have very little color. Many of the pieces have notes written by Czermański in graphite pencil which were erased, leaving the notes barely visible. Dimensions are 55 x 84.3 cm. and 80 x 58.5 cm. or smaller. | ||
| Three works from the Artine Artinian Art Collection are described and housed with the Zdzisław Czermański Collection: a portrait of Maurice de Vlaminck riding a bicycle, with a caricature of André Malraux seated between the legs of Charles de Gaulle on verso (70.67.21); a portrait of François Mauriac wearing a monk's habit (70.67.31); and a portrait of Marcel Proust (70.67.50). | ||