Franciszka Themerson

Franciszka Themerson
Franciszka Themerson
	Franciszka and Stefan Themerson
Born	28 June 1907
Died	29 June 1988 (aged 81)
Nationality	Polish

Franciszka Themerson (28 June 1907 - 29 June 1988) was a Polish, later British, painter, illustrator, filmmaker and stage designer.

Biography

The daughter of the artist, Jakub Weinles, Themerson was born in Warsaw in 1907. She graduated from the Chopin University of Music and the Warsaw School of Fine Arts with a distinction, in 1931. From 1938 to 1940 she lived in Paris, and then from 1940 lived in London until her death in 1988. She was principally a painter, although, throughout her life, she worked in several other fields of the visual arts: illustration, stage and graphic design.

Themerson collaborated with her husband, the writer Stefan Themerson, on experimental films, Apteka [The Pharmacy] (1930), Europa (1931–1932), Drobiazg Melodyjny [Musical Moment] (1933), Zwarcie [Short Circuit] (1935) and Przygoda Czlowieka Poczciwego [Adventure of a Good Citizen] (1937), only the last of which survives, along with two films they made together in Britain, Calling Mr Smith(1943), an account of Nazi atrocities in Poland and The Eye and the Ear (1944/45), investigating the visualisation of music. A "remake" of Europa was made in Poland in the 1980s, and an incomplete copy of the original film was found in an archive in Berlin in 2019.

She illustrated books for children written by her husband and others, and in 1948 she founded with her husband the quirky publishing company, Gaberbocchus Press, of which she was the art director. The press was named after a Latinisation of 'Jabberwocky', from Lewis Carroll's 'Alice', coined by Carroll's uncle, Hassard Dodgson. In 31 years the Gaberbocchus Press published over sixty titles, including works by Alfred Jarry, Kurt Schwitters, Bertrand Russell and the Themersons themselves. Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi was its flagship publication, published in many editions and still in print. The Gaberbocchus edition is a most apposite evocation of the spirit of Jarry's grotesque fable. The text, which was hand-written directly onto lithographic plates by the translator, Barbara Wright - interspersed with Themerson's conté crayon illustrations - is printed on bright yellow pages. Themerson's contributions as illustrator enormously enhanced the graphic originality of design of Gaberbocchus books. Apart from appearing in many journals worldwide, several collections of her drawings have been published as books: Forty Drawings for Friends, London 1940-42 (1943), The Way It Walks (1954), Traces of Living (1969) and Music (1998).

Themerson's theatrical designs included marionette productions of Ubu Roi, Ubu Enchainé and Brecht's Threepenny Opera, mostly made for the Marionetteater in Stockholm, in the 1960s, which toured worldwide for decades, to international acclaim. Many of them were subsequently exhibited at London's National Theatre in 1993.

Her major solo exhibitions - of paintings and drawings - include those at Gallery One One One in 1957 and 1959; Drian Galleries, 1963; Zachęta, Warsaw, 1964; New Gallery, Belfast, 1966; Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh, 1968; A retrospective at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1975; Gruenebaum, New York City, 1978; Łódź, Warsaw, Wrocław, 1981–1982; Nordjyllands Kunstmuseum, Aalborg, 1991; Gardner Centre, University of Sussex, 1992; Gdańsk, 1993; Redfern Gallery, 1993; National Theatre, 1993; Royal Festival Hall, 1993. Unposted Letters, Imperial War Museum in 1996; Kordegarda, Warsaw, 1998; Art First, London, 1999 and 2001; CK Zamek, Poznań, 2004; Europe House, London, 2013; GV Art Gallery, London 2013; Museum of Art in Łódź, 2013.

A collection of Themerson's greeting cards, called Gaberbocchus some of the old favourites is in the collection of the National Library of Poland.

Books illustrated by Franciszka Themerson published by the Gaberbocchus Press

Aesop, The Eagle & the Fox & The Fox & the Eagle: two semantically symmetrical versions and a revised application, (devised by Stefan Themerson). 1949
Stefan Themerson & Barbara Wright. Mr Rouse builds his House. 1950. (Translation of a story for children Pan Tom buduje dom by Stefan Themerson, with 122 drawings by Franciszka. Original Polish version published in Warsaw, 1938.) Tate 2013.
Stefan Themerson. Wooff Wooff, or Who Killed Richard Wagner?. A novella with drawings by Franciszka Themerson. 1951
Alfred Jarry. Ubu Roi. Drama in Five acts followed by the Song of Disembraining. First English translation and preface by Barbara Wright. Drawings by Franciszka Themerson. 1951
Bertrand Russell. The Good Citizen's Alphabet. An adventure in wicked humour. Illustrated by Franciszka Themerson. 1953. Tate 2017.
Stefan Themerson. Professor Mmaa's Lecture, An insect novel. Preface by Bertrand Russell. Illustrated by Franciszka Themerson. 1953
Stefan Themerson. The Adventures of Peddy Bottom. A story illustrated by Franciszka Themerson. 1954
Raymond Queneau. The Trojan Horse & At the Edge of the Forest. Translated by Barbara Wright. frontispice by Franciszka Themerson. 1954. Black series no.2
Franciszka Themerson. The Way it Walks. A book of cartoons. 1954. Black series no.3
C.H. Sisson. Versions and Perversions of Heine. English version of 14 political poems by Heinrich Heine. 1955. Black series no.4
The Gaberbocchus Independent. Broadsheet about Gaberbocchus with extracts from books and reviews. 1955
Stefan Themerson. factor T. An essay on human nature and another on beliefs, concluded with the Semantic Sonata and an index. drawings by Franciszka Themerson. 1956. Black series nos.8-9s.
The First Dozen by various authors. (The Black Series in a single volume) 1958
Harold Lang & Kenneth Tynan. The Quest for Corbett. Written for radio. Presentation by Franciszka Themerson. 1960
Anatol Stern. Europa. Facsimile reproduction of one of the first Polish futurist poems, 1925. Translated from the Polish by Michael Horovitz and Stefan Themerson. illustrated with stills from the Themersons' lost film of 1932. 1962
Bertrand Russell. History of the World in Epitome (For use in Martian infant schools). 1962
Franciszka and Stefan Themerson. Semantic Divertissements. 1962
Stefan Themerson. Bayamus and the Theatre of Semantic Poetry. A semantic novel. 1965
Franciszka Themerson. Traces of Living. Drawings. 1969
Stefan Themerson. Special Branch. A novel. 1972
Stefan Themerson. St. Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio, or Brother Francis' Lamb Chops. An opera. 1972
Stefan Themerson. Logic, Labels & Flesh. 11 essays. 1974
Stefan Themerson. The Urge to Create Visions. Essay on film. 1983
Nicholas Wadley, ed. The Drawings of Franciszka Themerson, 1991
Stefan Themerson. Collected Poems. 1997
Franciszka Themerson & Stefan themerson, Unposted Letters. correspondence, diaries, drawings, documents 1940-42. Gaberbocchus & De Harmonie. 2013

Other Books illustrated by Franciszka Themerson

May d' Alençon, Tricoti Tricota. (as Françoise Themerson). Paris. 1939
May d' Alençon, Le Cochon Aerodynamique. (as Françoise Themerson). Paris. 1939
Forty drawings for friends : London 1940-1942 privately printed. 1943
Mary Fielding Moore: The Lion Who Ate Tomatoes, and other stories. Sylvan Press. 1945.
Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, 1946, (first published Inky Parrot Press. 2001).
My First Nursery Book. George G. Harrap & Co., 1947; Tate 2008.
Ronald Bottrall, The Palissades of Fear. Editions Poetry London. 1949
Aesop, The Eagle & the Fox, and the Fox & the Eagle. Gaberbocchus 1949
Stefan Themerson, Mr Rouse Builds His House. Gaberbocchus. 1950
Stephen Leacock, The Unicorn Leacock. Hutchinson, 1960.
Franciszka Themerson, UBU. a comic strip, Bobbs-Merrill, New York, 1970 (other, translated editions, 1983-2014)
Franciszka Themerson, London 1941-42. privately printed 1987
Franciszka Themerson, Music. A Suite of Drawings. Themerson archive. 1998.
Franciszka Themerson, A view of the World: Drawings by Franciszka Themerson. Obscure Publications. 2001 [1]
Stefan Themerson (trans. Barbara Wright), Fragments from Darkness. Obscure Publications. 2001.[2]
Stefan Themerson, The Table that Ran Away to the Woods. Tate 2012

Exhibitions

London Group, New Burlington Galleries, February–March 1951
Arts Society of Paddington: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture by Contemporary Paddington Artists — Odeon Cinema, Edgware Road, London, 2–14 July 1951
Exhibition of Paintings by Franciszka Themerson, Watergate Theatre Club, London, 11 September – 8 October 1951
London Group, New Burlington Galleries, to 24 November 1951
London Group, April 1952
Les Éditions de Gaberbocchus, La Hune, Paris, February – March 1956
Recent Paintings by Franciszka Themerson, Gallery One, London, 1 – 20 February 1957
A selection from the John Moores Liverpool Exhibition, RWS Galleries, London, 12 – 22 February 1958
New Paintings by Franciszka Themerson, Gallery One, London, 12 May – 6 June 1958
Paintings by Franciszka Themerson, Gallery One, London, 12 May -7 June 1959
Women's International Art Club, RBA Galleries, London, 19 January – 3 February 1961
Drian Artists, Drian Galleries, London, 2 – 19 January 1963
Retrospective exhibition of paintings by Franciszka Themerson, Drian Galleries, London. 10 September – 7 October 1963
Franciszka Themerson: malarstwo i rysunek, Zachęta, Warsaw, February 1964
Drian Artists 1964 exhibition, Drian Galleries, London, January 1964
Franciszka Themerson och Kung Ubu, Marionetteatern Konstframjandet, Stockholm, 7 – 29 November 1964
Franciszka Themerson drawings, Marjorie Parr Gallery, London, 8 – 28 April 1965
group H, thirty fifth exhibition, Better Books, London, July 1965
Joseph Lacasse, Douglas Portway, Cecil Stephenson, Franciszka Themerson, Drian Galleries, London, 6 September – 10 October 1965
The Second Ind Coope Art Collection, touring exhibition, 1965
Franciszka Themerson Paintings, New Gallery, Belfast, 24 January - 26 February 1966
group H, thirty-sixth exhibition, Drian Galleries, London, 4–21 October 1966
British Drawing Today, ICA, London, 15 April - 6 May 1967
I Musici di Franciszka Themerson, Il Vicolo Galleria D’Arte, Genoa, 13–31 January 1968
Cybernetic Serendipity, designed by Franciszka Themerson, ICA, London, 2 August - 20 October 1968
Franciszka Themerson, James Morrison, Alexander Cree, Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh, 6 – 27 November 1968
Franciszka Themerson, It all depends on the point of view, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, 9 September – 19 October 1975
Prunella Clough, Adrian Heath, Jack Smith, Franciszka Themerson — Sunderland Arts Centre, 14 November - 6 December 1977
Franciszka Themerson, paintings, drawings and theatre design, Gruenebaum Gallery, New York, 7 December - 7 January 1978
Z kolekcji Haliny Nałęcz z Londynu – Muzeum Narodowe, Warsaw, January – February 1978
Fantastiska figurer – Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm, 1 June – 16 September 1979
Impasses – Galerie L’Ollave, Lyon, 6–22 March 1980
Stefan i Franciszka Themerson, Visual Researches – Muzeum Sztuki w Łodzi and tour, 1982
Presences Polonaises – Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 23 June – 26 September 1983
Constructivism in Poland 1923 to 1936 – Kettle's Yard Gallery, Cambridge, 25 February - 8 April 1984; Riverside Studios, London, April–May 1984
Painters in the Theatre – Gillian Jason Gallery, London, 23 November – 22 December 1988
Ubu Cent Ans de Règne – Musée-Galerie de la Seita, 12 May – 12 June 1981
Minnesutställning : Themersons – Marionettmuseet, Stockholm, 15 May – 14 June 1989
Franciszka Themerson, Stefan Themerson – Galeria Stara, Lublin, December 1990 – January 1991
Dziedzictwo – Galeria Kordegarda, Warsaw, September 1991
The Drawings of Franciszka Themerson (retrospective exhibition) – Nordjyllands Kunstmuseum, Aalborg, 6 September – 17 November 1991
Franciszka Themerson Drawings – Gardner Centre, University of Sussex, Falmer, 1 – 28 October 1992
Polish Roots British Soil, artists of Polish origin working in Britain – City Centre, Edinburgh, 2 April – 22 May 1993
Festival: The World According to the Themersons (Świat według Themersonów) — Gdańsk, 26–29 May 1993
Franciszka Themerson, Figures in Space — Redfern Gallery, London, 8 June - 15 July 1993
Franciszka Themerson Designs for the Theatre — Olivier Foyer, Royal National Theatre, London, 9 August - 25 September 1993
Lines from Life, the art of Franciszka Themerson — Foyer Galleries, Level 2, Royal Festival Hall, London, 9 August – 25 September 1993
The Themersons and the Gaberbocchus Press, an Experiment in Publishing 1948-1979 — La Boetie, New York, 14 October - 15 January 1993
Gaberbocchus Press — The Poetry Library, Royal Festival Hall, London, 15 November - 12 December 1993
Franciszka and Stefan Themerson in Time and in Space, books, photograms, films 1928 - 1988 — Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej, Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw, 23 November - 30 December 1993
Franciszka Themerson i Teatr — Galeria ‘Pałacyk’ im. Tadeusza Kulisiewicza, Warsaw, 13–22 December 1993
The Themersons and the Gaberbocchus Press — an Experiment in Publishing 1948-1979 — bNO (beroepsvereninging Nederlandse Ontwerpers), Amsterdam, 29 April - 20 May 1994
Another Reading – art inspired by the written word — Jason Rhodes, London, 30 November 1994 - 30 January 1995
Gaberbocchus Press, un éditeur non conformiste 1948-1979 — Galerie Colbert, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, 23 January - 24 February 1996
Franciszka Themerson: Unposted Letters 1940-42 — Imperial War Museum, London, 15 February - 8 April 1996
The Gaberbocchus Press of Stefan & Franciszka Themerson — Galerie Signe, Heerlen, The Netherlands, 29 August - 27 September 1998
Franciszka Themerson: Białe Obrazy / White Paintings — Galeria Kordegarda, Warsaw, 18 December 1998 - 17 January 1999
Franciszka Themerson: Why is the mind in the head? — Art First, London, 13 January - 11 February 1999
UBU in UK — The Mayor Gallery, London, 20 July - 15 September 2000
Franciszka Themerson: What shall I say? — Art First, London, 2–19 April 2001
Wyspy Themersonów w Poznaniu, Zamek i Galeria Oko/Ucho, Poznań, 21 October - 14 November 2004
Franciszka Themerson: Ubu Król / Drawings for Ubu Roi — Galeria Oko Ucho, Poznań, 21 October – 14 November 2004
Lightbox: Stefan & Franciszka Themerson, Tate Britain, London, 2 May - 28 June 2009
Themerson & Themerson, two exhibitions — Muzeum Mazowieckie, Płock, 13 September - 2 December 2012
The Themersons and the Avant-Garde, Muzeum Sztuki w Łodzi, 22 February - 5 May 2013
Franciszka Themerson, a European Artist — 12 Star Gallery, Europe House, London, 19 February - 8 March 2013
Franciszka Themerson, Why is the Mind in the Head?, GV Art, London, 11–20 October 2013
Dni Themersonów w Warszawie (The Themerson Days in Warsaw), 21–23 November 2013
Ubu według Themersonów (Ubu according to the Themersons), Książnica Płocka, Płock, October 2013
Franciszka & Stefan Themerson: Books, Camera, Ubu — Camden Arts Centre, London, March 23 March – 5 June 2016
Franciszka Themerson, Lines and Thoughts — l’étrangère, London, 4 November – 16 December 2016
Franciszka Themerson & UBU — Richard Saltoun Gallery, London, 21 July - 15 September 2017
FT & it's in SW19, Norman Plastow Gallery, Wimbledon, London, 29 September - 10 October 2017
Franciszka Themerson Lifelines — Centre for Contemporary Art, Łaźnia, Gdańsk, 12 July – 13 October 2019

References

External links

Stefan and Franciszka Themerson at Culture.pl

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[1] ttp://library.indstate.edu/about/units/rbsc/obscure/PDFs/themerson_f_view.pdf

[2] ttp://library.indstate.edu/about/units/rbsc/obscure/PDFs/themerson_s_fragments.pdf