Felicja Pacanowska. Painter, graphic artist

Felicja had an older brother, David, an architect, and a younger sister, Etna, a pianist, who died tragically during the Second World War.

Between 1927 and 1932, Pacanowska studied painting and engraving at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. After graduating, in the same year – 1932 – she travelled to Paris to study painting at the École de Paris, where she joined a group of female painters of Jewish origin.

She undertook numerous artistic journeys across Europe. In 1935, she travelled to Italy, where she attended the Scuola dell’Arte della Medaglia in Rome for a year. In the following years, most likely in 1937, she returned to Poland to exhibit her prints and paintings at the Institute of Art Propaganda in Łódź. This was her last visit to her homeland.

When the Second World War broke out, Pacanowska was in Paris. She spent the years of the occupation there. She struggled with poverty and constant danger. Because of her Jewish background, she was forced to cease her artistic activities and go into hiding in various places. She lost all her art supplies and works at that time. She miraculously escaped deportation during the so-called Vél d’Hiv – the largest mass round-up of Jews, which took place in Paris on 16–17 July 1942. The extremely precarious and dangerous living conditions, as well as the news of her mother’s and sister’s deaths, left a deep mark on the artist’s life. The only things that kept her spirits up were art and her determination to resume her artistic work.

After the war, she often travelled to Rome, where her brother Davide lived and worked; however, her permanent home was Paris. It was there that she developed her artistic career. She worked mainly in etching and aquatint, and also painted. She gradually built up her reputation and gained recognition. She took part in numerous exhibitions both at home and abroad. Among the most significant were: the Salon d’Automne (Autumn Salon), the Salon des Indépendants (Salon of the Independents), the Salon de Mai (May Salon), the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles (Salon of New Realities), Jeune Gravure Contemporaine (Young Contemporary Printmaking) and Estampes Contemporaines (Contemporary Prints). She also held exhibitions in Japan and the USA. In 1954, she received the Prix de Viareggio, and in 1956, the Prix Amedeo Modigliani.

Pacanowska maintained contact with the Polish community in Italy and even became part of it. In 1954, the artist was invited to take part in the ‘Mostra Internazionale del Centro delle Arti’ exhibition (8–29 May 1954), organised on the initiative of the ‘Quo Vadis’ Association of Polish Artists in Italy, at the premises of the J. Z. Umiastowska Foundation in Rome. Pacanowska’s works were exhibited alongside those of Polish artists such as Michał Paszyn, Roman Biliński, Karol Badura, Jan Chmieliński, Lech Sawicki, Janina Domańska, Jadwiga Szymańska, Lidia Giedroyc, Halina Bogusławska and many others. Karol Badura wrote the following about this exhibition:

“The exhibition received widespread coverage in the local press and on the radio. This is the best proof that where the Polish word cannot reach, Polish art will. (…) The first exhibition was, as it were, a test of strength, a search for Polish visual artists, now scattered across the globe.”

In 1955, Pacanowska took part in the Interplanetary Art Exhibition (Mostra d’Arte Interplanetaria), also organised by ‘Quo Vadis’ and held at the headquarters of the J. Z. Umiastowska Foundation. In 1956, the artist exhibited her portraits at the International Portrait Exhibition (Mostra Internazionale del Ritratto). The last exhibition organised by the Polish association “Quo Vadis” and the Umiastowska Foundation in which Felicja took part was the “Dal vivo – Arti Figurative” exhibition at the Palazzo Marconi in Frascati in 1963.

Pacanowska most frequently depicted nudes, portraits (including those of Moyshe Broderzon, Chil Aronson and Ernest Nameyni), landscapes and still lifes, whilst in her later period her work increasingly consisted of abstract compositions. Her art, primarily printmaking (mainly linocut, etching and aquatint) and painting, oscillated between expressionism, cubism and abstraction.

“Her works created using engraving and etching techniques delight with the purity of their line, the meticulous balance of black and white, and a light imbued with solemnity and sensitivity.”

Nadine Nieszawer —an art historian and author of the book *Stories of Jewish Artists of the School of Paris 1905–1939*—interpreted this evolution as a consequence of the traumatic experiences of the Second World War.

In March 2025, the photographer Andrea Pacanowski, son of David Pacanowski, undertook the ‘Pacanowska/Pacanowski’ project, the aim of which was to create a ‘dialogue’ between Felicja’s art and his contemporary photographic interpretation of it.

“The result is a fusion of shapes, colours and emotions, through which the painter’s works are given new life via an innovative process of visual metamorphosis.”

Andrea writes the following about his relative:

“Different in temperament to my father, Felicja was reserved and reluctant to engage in interpersonal relationships, and her character was complex. I remember that during visits, access to her works was practically impossible: she was particularly protective and possessive of her art. Her relationships with art dealers were also complicated, as she was very suspicious.”

He adds:

“It was only after her death that I was able to fully appreciate the breadth of her oeuvre: from engravings and etchings, to paintings and prints, and even sculptures. Felicja masterfully combined various printmaking techniques, demonstrating a versatility that characterises her artistic merit. I regard her as a versatile and exceptionally talented artist, whose complex nature was reflected in a body of work marked by genius and originality.”

The artist died in 2002 at the home of Polish nuns in Rome, in the presence of her brother’s family.

Several of the artist’s works were acquired for the collection of the Musée National d’Art Moderne and the National Library in Paris.

Title: Composition

Date: before 1962

Technique: aquatint; engraved metal plate

Support: Japanese paper

Sheet dimensions: 45 × 30 cm

Dimensions of print / composition (excluding margins): 38 × 26 cm

Edition: no. 8/25

Markings / inscriptions: “S.N.B.M.: F. Pacanowska 8/25”

Inventory number: AME 521

Item in the catalogue of the Musée National d’Art Moderne

Title: Composition

Date: c. 1966

Technique: colour intaglio print / colour engraving; cut/engraved metal plate

Support: Japanese paper

Sheet dimensions: 37.2 × 50 cm

Dimensions of the print / composition (excluding margins): 30 × 40 cm

Edition: no. 28/40

Markings / inscriptions:

“S.B.DR.: F. Pacanowska”

“N.B.G.: 28/40”

Inventory number: AME 888

Item in the catalogue of the Musée National d’Art Moderne