Aleksander Żyw
1905 - 1994-95

Living in Warsaw from 1906 until 1933, Żyw studied law and art history at Warsaw University (1923-1926). Later, he became a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, tutored in Tadeusz Pruszkowski's atelier between 1926 and 1932. He was a member of "Loża Wolnomalarska" (the Free Painting Lodge) and after being granted a scholarship, traveled to Austria, Dalmatia, Greece and Italy. He settled in Paris in 1933 where Roman Kramsztyk became one of his friends. Often spending summer months in Corsica working on plein-air painting he was in that island region when World War II broke out. He volunteered for the Polish Army in France and smuggled himself to Scotland and England where he served in the Polish army; was on the Polish navy's destroyer, O.R.P Piorun; and also performed duty in the air force. After the war he lived for a while in Edinburgh and later moved to Tuscany, Italy where in the summertime, he often painted in the Lago di Garda.

A skilled artist, Zyw was inspired by post-impressionism and expressionism before World War II, and was acknowledged as a splendid illustrator of battlefield scenes he observed during the war. Afterwards, he painted abstract paintings and drawings that were based on the study of organic form which were met with considerable praise in England and in Italy - the country that became the painter's new homeland.

Exhibitions of his work were held in Warsaw (1932, 1936, 1991); Edinburgh (1945, 1950, 1957); London (1948, 1953, 1958); Milan (1949 and 1953); Basel (1950); several in Paris (1937, 1951, 1952, 1954, 1956, 1957); Brescia (1956) and two in Desenzano del Garda (1956 and 1993).

Works in the collection: