Post-War Artist Erna Rosenstein: Exploring Surrealism, Trauma, and Whimsy

by The AWT Editors

Black-and-white portrait photograph of Erna Rosenstein
Erna Rosenstein. Photo by Adam Sandauer.
“A Bower Far Away” by Erna Rosenstein, a cutaway shelter drawn in colored lines
Erna Rosenstein, “A Bower Far Away,” 1977. Oil on canvas, 37 × 29 7/8 inches (94 × 76 cm). Courtesy of Zachęta National Gallery of Art.

Multi-disciplinary artist, poet, and fiction writer Erna Rosenstein became a leading cultural voice in 20th century Poland. Yet it is only now that the West is beginning to discover her surrealist masterpieces.

The Early Life of Erna Rosenstein

Erna Rosenstein (1913–2004) was born to Austrian-Jewish and Ukrainian parents in Lviv, Austria-Hungary, now Ukraine. When she was five, the family immigrated to Kraków, Poland.

The young Rosenstein studied at Wiener Frauenakademie and the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, which she graduated from in 1936. Two years later, in 1938, she visited the International Surrealist Exposition, organized by André Breton in Paris—a formative experience that shaped her aesthetic approach.

Already a committed Communist and member of the leftist Kraków Group of artists, her early work focused on life as a Jewish woman living under Nazi occupation in Poland.

“Fountain of Fire and Silence” by Erna Rosenstein, orange flamelike strokes rising from a speckled blue-gray ground, with a detail
Erna Rosenstein, “Fountain of Fire and Silence,” 1982. Mixed media on canvas, 24 3/4 × 18 7/8 inches (63 × 48 cm). Right: detail. Courtesy of Zachęta National Gallery of Art.

In 1942, the family attempted an escape from Warsaw. Both of her parents were killed on the journey, and Erna only barely survived. She spent the rest of the war years under various aliases.

Rosenstein routinely returned to the memory of Nazi occupation and the unspeakable trauma of the Holocaust, while developing a visual language all her own—stunningly abstracted surrealism.

After a Soviet-backed government was established in Poland, Rosenstein lived out her political ideals without turning a blind eye to hard realities. Among the tensions of the Cold War and the fallout of so much destruction from World War II, the Communist-led Polish People’s Republic faced ongoing strife and pursued a clampdown on civil liberties—while also delivering universal health care, education, the rebuilding of Warsaw, and the eradication of illiteracy.

“Fountain” by Erna Rosenstein, biomorphic shapes in ochre, red, and pink, with a detail
Erna Rosenstein, “Fountain,” 1965. Oil on canvas, 57 5/8 × 46 1/4 inches (146.5 × 117.5 cm). Right: detail. Courtesy of Zachęta National Gallery of Art.
“Twilight of the Painting” by Erna Rosenstein, fine ink lines and pale washes of blue and pink on white
Erna Rosenstein, “Twilight of the Painting,” 1978. Mixed media on canvas, 18 7/8 × 24 3/4 × 1 1/8 inches (48 × 63 × 3 cm). Courtesy of Zachęta National Gallery of Art.

The Rise of Rosenstein

Rosenstein’s long career saw her rise to the top of Eastern European art. She routinely returned to the memory of Nazi occupation and the unspeakable trauma of the Holocaust, while developing a visual language all her own—stunningly abstracted surrealism.

Though she never aligned herself with the officially sanctioned socialist-realist style, by the mid-1950s Rosenstein’s work began to take hold in the public consciousness. Soon, she was one of the most revered artists in the Poland scene.

Rosenstein’s biomorphic figures extend beyond painting into multimedia work made out of found objects.

In March 1968, student communists and other leftists took to the streets to protest the failures of the Soviet-backed regime. The result was brutal repression, and, after this, Rosenstein turned away from painting and focused on literature for a time—perhaps as a form of resistance.

As a writer, Rosenstein primarily wrote fairy tales and poetry. These pieces all featured surrealist subtexts, blending form, aesthetic, and meaning into a hypnotic brew.

Her biomorphic figures extend beyond painting into multimedia work made out of found objects. This fascination continued into the 1990s. Throughout the decade she made several ink drawings of these items—trash, organic matter, stones. She found them haunted by meaning and expressed these hidden stories visually.

Though a major name in Eastern Europe for much of her life, it was only in 2021, 17 years after her death, that Rosenstein received her first monographic exhibition outside of Poland—“Once Upon a Time” at Hauser & Wirth.

“Eternity Breeds the Moment” by Erna Rosenstein, a cloud of blue, violet, and ochre over a grid of fine lines
Erna Rosenstein, “Eternity Breeds the Moment,” 1982. Mixed media on canvas, 19 1/4 × 25 1/4 inches (49 × 64 cm). Courtesy of Zachęta National Gallery of Art.

The Surreal Appeal of Erna Rosenstein

I must now understand it all myself alone.
Ever deeper
and ever heavier.
Only it will remain.

— From “Rock (1)” by Erna Rosenstein

Rosenstein’s output of visual art and poetry tells a tale all its own. For the artist, “there are no distinct borders” between literature and painting. In this way, all of her work contains a driving narrative, a mythos that reverberates through every line and choice of color.

It is this narrative thread that binds all of her works together. It tells the story of a life lived among massive historical events, able to retain and reimagine the human dimension among the horror and ecstasy of existence.

Recommended Stories

More stories