-
Franciszka Themerson, Nuit de Tenèbres, 1942, Pen and ink. Copyright, Themerson Estate.
Exhibition
One Family, Three Cities, Six Years of War
1 Mar 2017 – 28 Apr 2017
Event times
Monday-Friday 10am-5pm
Cost of entry
Free
Address
- 29 Russell Square
- London
England - WC1B 5DP
- United Kingdom
This exhibition traces the story of one family’s experiences during the Second World War and the Holocaust: the family of artist Franciszka Themerson and her young niece Jasia Reichardt, latterly an important cultural figure in post-war Britain.
About
Originally from Warsaw, Franciszka Themerson found herself alone in London during the war, separated from her film-maker husband, who was stranded in France, and the rest of her family, trapped in the Warsaw Ghetto. As deportations from the Ghetto intensified in summer 1942, Franciszka’s niece Jasia, aged 9, escaped and lived in Poland under an assumed identity for the remainder of the war, before being reunited with her aunt and uncle in 1946.
The exhibition displays sixteen original drawings produced by Franciszka Themerson in London during the war, which she called her ‘Unposted Letters’ to her husband in France, together with artworks by other members of the family. The exhibition also features family documents and photographs, and a timeline that traces the lives of Franciszka and Stefan Themerson, and Jasia Reichardt from 1939 to 1946 when they were reunited in London.
The Wiener Library, founded in 1933 for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide, is the world's oldest institution devoted to the study of the Holocaust, its causes and legacies.
