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HELENA BERLEWI (HEL ENRI) - creative fulfillment
Helena Berlewi (1873 - 1976), working under the pseudonym Hel Enri, was a figure as unconventional as her life story - she took up painting at the age of 79, only to see her first opening two years later. In the 1950s and 1960s, her works were extremely popular, with numerous exhibitions around the world attracting large audiences. In 1960, the artist played the lead role in the Marianne Oswald film Bouquet des Femmes (Bouquet of Women). The production also featured the work of prominent female painters Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Lebrun, Berthe Morisot, Suzanne Valadon, Sonia Delaunay, discussed today in every major compendium of women's art. She painted flowers, algae, seaweed. As she has said many times, she has always been fond of flowers, and was most inspired in art by their withered versions. Inspired by nature, she created exquisite compositions. Most often she used intense colors, composing them in such a way as to form abstract arrangements. Her works are in the collections of important museums around the world and in private collections.
Helena Berlewi was born in 1873 in Warsaw as Chaja Leja Szrajber.
For most of her life she was a homemaker and family woman. The mother of Henryk Berlewi (born in 1894), who became a pioneer of the Polish and Jewish avant-garde in the interwar period. In 1928, already a widow, she emigrated to France in the wake of her son Henry. In 1952, at the age of 79, she painted her first picture. By 1970, she had held more than 30 exhibitions around the world. In 1958 and 1966 she also exhibited in Poland. She died in 1976 in France. In 2024 there was an exhibition “Bio-facture. Paintings by Hel Enri” at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in cooperation with the Art & Modern Foundation.
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Magdalena Kąkolewska
Law and art history graduate, founder of the Art Transfer Foundation, whose mission is to popularize art. Curator, educator, lecturer, author of articles, lectures and workshops. Promotes intergenerational dialogue by creating educational programs for adults with numerous participation of seniors. Author of a series of lectures on women artists held as part of the “Magda's Sunday Lectures” program since 2018 and a series of weekly lectures in the “Transferring Arts” program since 2013.