Jan Lebenstein (1930-1999) - Polish painter and graphic artist. Coming from a Jewish family, Lebenstein graduated from the State Art High School in Warsaw. He then studied at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts, from 1948 to 1954, under Artur Nacht-Samborski. His artistic debut took place at the Warsaw Arsenal in 1955. A year later, he joined the Theatre na Tarczyńskiej, run by Miron Białoszewski in his own flat. There Lebenstein had his first solo exhibition. After receiving a scholarship, he went to Paris for four weeks, where he won the Grand Prix de Paris at the First Biennale of the Young in 1959. From then on, he remained in Paris and took French citizenship in 1971. In recognition of his artistic achievements, he received many awards, including the Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation Distinction in New York and the Jan Cybis Award in 1987. In 1992, his largest exhibition in Poland took place at the Zachęta Gallery in Warsaw. In 1998, on the occasion of the 3rd of May Constitution Day, President Aleksander Kwasniewski awarded him the Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta for his outstanding achievements in the field of art and his contribution to Polish culture. Jan Lebenstein practised a unique style of figurative painting, incorporating surrealist and abstract elements. His works included illustrations for works such as George Orwell's 'Animal Farm' and for several books of the Bible, such as 'The Books of Genesis,' 'The Book of Job' and 'The Apocalypse of St. John' - both in the form of stained glass series and prints. He also created cityscapes, poetic interpretations of human figures and fantasy-symbolic compositions with animal motifs. In one of his interviews, Lebenstein described his paintings as "emotional metaphors," whose aim was to evoke emotional drama in the viewer in an expressive way, but without cheap shrieking, through spontaneous figurations. The artist died in 1999 and was buried at Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw.