Hanna Rudzka Cybis (1897–1988)
Portrait of a Woman, 1930s
pencil on paper, 16.5 x 10.6 cm
signed lower right: HRC
Provenance: from the collection of Leszek Dutka
Hanna Rudzka-Cybis’s artistic talent was discovered by her mother when she was still a child. At the age of 14, the future artist began taking private drawing lessons from the painter Władysław Barwicki (a student of Wojciech Gerson) and Henryk Wierciński. At the same time, she attended the philological gymnasium in Lublin.
In the 1917–1918 academic year, she began her studies at the School of Fine Arts in Warsaw, in Miłosz Kotarbiński’s studio. Due to financial difficulties, she was forced to discontinue her studies after three years. Soon, her relative, Feliks Hilchen, the director of the port in Gdańsk, came to her aid. Thanks to him, Rudzka-Cybis resumed her art studies in 1921 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków under the guidance of Ignacy Pieńkowski and Stanisław Dębicki.
From 1923 onward, the artist studied in Józef Pankiewicz’s studio. Eleven of Pankiewicz’s students decided to continue their artistic pursuits in Paris. In 1923, this group formed the Paris Committee, whose members, in addition to her, included: Seweryn Boraczok, Jan Cybis, Józef Czapski, Józef Jarema, Artur Nacht-Samborski, Tadeusz Piotr Potworowski, Janina Przecławska-Strzałecka, Janusz Strzałecki, Marian Szczyrbuła, Dorota Seydenmann, and Zygmunt Waliszewski. They were later referred to as “Kapists,” derived from the abbreviation “KP.” Together, they raised money for the trip by organizing artistic events, balls, and raffles. They also received financial support from Stefan Laurysiewicz, an art collector and friend of Pankiewicz.
On September 1, 1924, the members of the Paris Committee left for Paris. That same year, before leaving Kraków, the artist married Jan Cybis, a fellow student and one of the Kapists. Together, they rented a studio on Impasse du Rouet. The Kapists studied at the Paris branch of the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts under Pankiewicz’s guidance. They also went on plein air trips to the south of France, including to La Ciotat (1925) and Collioure (1926). In the meantime, they earned a living in various ways—Rudzka-Cybis, for example, copied paintings by artists such as Peter Paul Rubens and Paolo Veronese to make ends meet.
In 1931, the artist took part in the first Kapist exhibition at the Galerie Zak in Paris, and subsequently at the Galerie Moos in Geneva. That same year—after a seven-year stay in Paris—she decided to return to Poland (along with other members of the Paris Committee).
Upon her return, Rudzka-Cybis exhibited her works at a Kapists’ exhibition at the Polish Artists’ Club organized by Karol Stryjeński. In 1933, she returned to Paris, where she remained for another two years. The artist’s first solo exhibition took place in the French capital, at the Galerie Renaissance[1]. During this time, the painter’s work gained increasing recognition. In 1934, her paintings, shown at the Kapists’ exhibition at the Institute of Art Propaganda in Warsaw, were purchased by the State Art Collection.
From 1937 to 1939, the artist also taught summer courses for teachers at the high school in Krzemieniec. In the fall of 1937, she traveled through Italy; that same year, she also went to Paris, where she visited the Great World’s Fair. In 1938, she participated in the Exhibition of Polish Art at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh.
The outbreak of war interrupted Rudzka-Cybis’s artistic career. She spent the period of the Nazi occupation in Kraków, where, at the Artists’ Café—together with Bronisława Orkanowa-Smreczyńska—she organized a mutual aid group for fellow artists. During this time, the painter separated from her husband. She also helped hide Dorota Seydenmann.
After the war, she became involved in rebuilding the artistic community. She co-founded the Association of Polish Visual Artists(ZPAP), and in particular the Kraków Branch of ZPAP, of which she became vice president (1945) and then president (1948–1950). Rudzka-Cybis also became the first woman in the history of the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts to hold a professorship—in 1945 she was appointed associate professor, and in 1956 full professor in the Department of Painting. In the following years, she first served as associate dean (1959–1960) and then as dean (1960–1962) of the Department of Painting.
