MARIUSZ HERMANSDORFER (1940–2018)

Mariusz Hermansdorfer (1940–2018) passed away in Wrocław on the 18th of August this year. He was a director of the National Museum in Wrocław in the years 1983–2013, custodian of the contemporary art department of this museum from 1972, critic, curator of exhibitions, one of the most significant figures in Polish Culture of the past half-century. Born in Lviv, he studied art history at the University of Wrocław. While still at university, he started working for the Silesian Museum (since 1970 named the National Museum). In 1967, he moved to the branch of the Municipal Museum of Wrocław – the Museum of Current Art, which at the time was getting ready for its opening. There he worked together with Jerzy Ludwiński, one of their achievements being the memorable Fine Arts Symposium Wrocław ’70, and was engaged in the activity of the Mona Lisa Gallery run by Ludwiński. He returned to the National Museum in 1972, and became a custodian of the contemporary art department up to his retirement in 2013. There he created, starting practically from scratch, one of the best collections of Polish contemporary art in the country, abundant in works of such artists as Magdalena Abakanowicz, Tadeusz Brzozowski, Edward Dwurnik, Józef Gielniak, Władysław Hasior, Józef Hałas, Maria Jarema, Jerzy Kalina, Tadeusz Kantor, Jan Lebenstein, Natalia LL, Jerzy Nowosielski, Jerzy Rosołowicz, Jonasz Stern, Jan Tarasin and many others. The predominant artists of this collection were those of metaphor and expression. From the mid-1970s he was a curator of Polish presentations at international art festivals – in Cagnessur- Mer, São Paulo and New Delhi. He used to organise exhibitions from museum collections in Germany, Great Britain, the United States and the Netherlands. As an art critic he was writing mainly for the monthly “Odra”; in 1990 he became a member of its Editorial Board. The writings of Mariusz Hermansdorfer can also be found in catalogues and scholarly publications of the National Museum in Wrocław.