Dimensions: 17.5 x 22 cm (inside the passe-partout)
signed and dated in pencil on the lower right: 'M.Dawka 1946', inscribed on the lower left: 'monotype'
Condition
damaged corner on the right
Biography
From 1928 to 1933, she studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. She received her diploma in 1933. She then studied pedagogy and art history at the Jan Kazimierz University in Lviv. In 1933, she founded the “Orion” art group in Stanisławów (together with Jonasz Stern and W. Przedwojewski). After the war, she was a member of the Association of Polish Fine Artists (ZPAP) in Kraków. In 1947, together with her husband, Stanisław Dawski, she moved to Wrocław and began working at the State Higher School of Fine Arts (PWSSP; now the Academy of Fine Arts). She remained associated with the school until 1970. Following the events of 1968, she and her husband were harassed by the authorities. She left Wrocław and settled in Warsaw in 1969. She was active in the Society of Friends of Children. Her work was inspired by observations of nature, including, for example, the elements of the sea (the series “Oceanic Compositions,” “Antarctic Compositions,” “Fauna”), as well as her long-standing work with children at the Wrocław Society of Friends of Children (the “Painted Fairy Tales” series). She explored sports themes, participating in and winning awards at national Olympic competitions in 1948 and 1956. After 1956, the organic, semi-abstract, allusive forms of her works brought her closer to Surrealism.
