The institution known today as the Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts Łódź was founded in the spring of 1945 and was then called the State Higher School of Visual Arts (PWSSP) in Łódź. Its establishment was possible thanks to many years of efforts of local artists - Władysław Strzemiński and Stefan Wegner – and those who came to Łódź: Felicjan Szczęsny Kowarski, Roman Modzelewski, Ludwik Tyrowicz, Władysław Daszewski and Stefan Byrski.

Initially there were only three faculties: the Faculty of Textile managed by Leon Ormezowski, the Faculty of Ceramics managed by Julia Kotarbińska and the Faculty of Graphic Art managed by Ludwik Tyrowicz. Leon Ormezowki, a Colourist painter, became the first rector of the school. The profile of the school was established within the first two years. Its aim was to educate students in the fields of both applied and fine arts. Main specialisations included: ceramics, textile and furniture design and printed textile. The founders of the academy consciously referred to the traditions of Bauhaus. From its beginnings the institution has been interested in close cooperation with local and Polish industry.

In the academic year 1946/47 the Faculty of Spatial Visual Arts was created. It was managed by Władysław Strzemiński, a founder of the ‘a.r.’ group, an outstanding artist, theoretician and teacher at the State Higher School of Visual Arts in the years 1945–1950. His art, educational ideas, and first and foremost the boldness and innovativeness of his thinking defined the character of the school at that time. In the Polish higher artistic education, dominated at the time by the Colourists, the Łódź school was a haven of modernity. This was the reason why at the end of 1940’s its activity was quickly limited by state authorities realizing the Stalinist policy. However, the unique origins of the school and the ideas behind its establishment were not forgotten and inspired the subsequent generations of academic teachers, whose work got gradually less dependent on politics and state ideology.

The over 50-year long history of the Academy was created by many outstanding academic teachers. Apart from the founders of the PWSSP this group included Roman Artymowski, Stefan Byrski, Stanisław Fijałkowski, Zdzisław Głowacki, Marian Jaeschke, Tomasz Jaśkiewicz, Lena Kowalewicz, Stefan Krygier, Lech Kunka, Antoni Starczewski, Maria Stieber, Janina Tworek-Pierzgalska, Teresa Tyszkiewicz, and many others.

In 1976 the institution so far located in a small, interwar period building at 77 Narutowicza Street moved to a new building designed by Bolesław Kardaszewski. Till this day the monumental structure is the only example in Poland of a building complex constructed especially for a modern, multi-unit art academy. In 1987 the institution was named after Władysław Strzemiński and included the continuation of his ideas in its programme, thus combining tradition with innovation. In 1996 the institution was granted a status of an Academy of Fine Arts.

In 2013 the Academy opened two modern units: the Fashion Promotion Centre and the Centre of Science and Art. In 2014, with the support of the City of Łódź Office, the Academy undertook the initiative to bring to life the Academic Design Centre – a platform for cooperation of all design faculties at Polish public academies of fine arts.

Władysław Strzemiński

Władysław Strzemiński, after whom the Academy was named, was a painter, art theoretician, teacher, a pioneer of Constructivist avant-garde of the 1920’s and 1930’s, the creator of the theory of Unism and a person strongly connected with Łódź.

Among the founders of our Academy Władysław Strzemiński was the one who undisputedly had the greatest influence on the academic and artistic circles in Łódź, despite the tragic political circumstances in the post-war Poland. This is why in 1987 it was decided to name the State Higher School of Visual Arts in Łódź after him. It is not common for visual artists – even the outstanding ones – to formulate and published theories or programmes apart from creating artworks.

Strzemiński was born in a Polish family in Minsk, Belarus, on 21 November 1893.

In 1917 he graduated from the Military College of Engineering in Petersburg. After World War 1, during which he was seriously injured losing an arm, a leg and sight in one of his eyes, he attended the Moscow Academy of Fine Arts but never completed his studies. He worked as an assistant to Kazimir Malevich at the Vitebsk Practical Art School. Within merely a couple of years he became one of the leading avant-garde artists in Russia and cooperated with such prominent figures as Lazar Lissitzky (El Lissitzky) and Alexander Rodchenko.

In 1920 he married Katarzyna Kobro (1898-1951), a Russian of German origin who became one of the most outstanding sculptors of the interwar period in Poland. They were both actively engaged in artistic life: they managed a branch of UNOVIS, they were in contact with Malevich, Lazar Lissitzky, and most probably they were involved in shaping the theories which Russian art and culture were to follow. They were considered to be representatives of "far-left trends", and their studio was referred to as "a constructivist palette". In 1922 the Strzemińkis managed to reach Poland. They settled in the countryside and got in touch with the representatives of the new Polish avant-garde.

In 1927 Strzemiński formulated the theory of Unism which referred to painting. In later years it was expanded to architecture, sculpture and typography techniques. The general principle was that the work of art should be a unity devoid of any contrasts, dynamism, illusion of space, whose colour palette was to be limited. In 1931 the artist moved to Łódź where he was active in the Association of Polish Artists and Designers. In 1932 he received the City of Łódź Award.

In 1945 Strzemiński was employed as an academic teacher at the State Higher School of Visual Arts which he helped to found. Between 1948 and 1949 he created a cycle of the so-called solarist paintings which depicted ‘afterimages’ resulting from looking at the sun. At the time the artist tried to reconcile the avant-garde with the Socialist realism doctrine by creating a new principle of realistic depiction.

In 1950, by the order of the Ministry of Culture and Art, Strzemiński was dismissed from the State Higher School of Visual Arts for not respecting the norms of Socialist realism. Gravely ill and without any means of support, he died on 28 December 1952. His written works were not published until the second half of the 1950’s when ‘Theory of Vision’ appeared in print. Strzemiński’s written theoretical and research output consists of 87 articles, reviews and critical works but first and foremost 5 outstanding books. These include:

"Unism in Painting” - 1928

"Space Compositions: Space-Time Rhythm and Its Calculations" – 1931, written together with Katarzyna Kobro

"On Modern Art" - 1934, collaborative publication.

"Functional Print" - 1935.

"Theory of Vision" - 1958, published posthumously.

In the 1960’s and 70’s Ryszard Stanisławski, the director of the Museum of Art in Łódź became a passionate propagator of Strzemiński’s ideas and art. Thanks to his efforts the most significant texts of the artist were published in English and French. In 1975 Strzemiński’s "Pisma" ("Texts"), a collection of all his theoretical articles, was published in Polish. Strzemiński’s output became available and widely known.