MARIUSZ HERMANSDORFER (1940–2018)

Mariusz Hermansdorfer (1940–2018) passed awayin Wrocław on the 18th of August this year. He was a directorof the National Museum in Wrocław in the years 1983–2013,custodian of the contemporary art department of this museumfrom 1972, critic, curator of exhibitions, one of the mostsignificant figures in Polish Culture of the past half-century.Born in Lviv, he studied art history at the University ofWrocław. While still at university, he started working for theSilesian Museum (since 1970 named the National Museum).In 1967, he moved to the branch of the Municipal Museumof Wrocław – the Museum of Current Art, which at thetime was getting ready for its opening. There he workedtogether with Jerzy Ludwiński, one of their achievementsbeing the memorable Fine Arts Symposium Wrocław ’70,and was engaged in the activity of the Mona Lisa Galleryrun by Ludwiński. He returned to the National Museumin 1972, and became a custodian of the contemporary artdepartment up to his retirement in 2013. There he created,starting practically from scratch, one of the best collections ofPolish contemporary art in the country, abundant in works ofsuch 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 thiscollection were those of metaphor and expression.From the mid-1970s he was a curator of Polishpresentations at international art festivals – in Cagnessur-Mer, São Paulo and New Delhi. He used to organiseexhibitions from museum collections in Germany, GreatBritain, 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 foundin catalogues and scholarly publications of the NationalMuseum in Wrocław.