Bulletin du Musée National de Varsovie (7.1966)

ex Libris Ecclesia Parochialis Jazdoiciensis extraditis. Sexto: Similibus Literis Sepultura Cor-
poris Francisca Canaletti in Anno 1793° ex Libris Ecclesiae Parochialis Sancta Crucis Varsa-
viensis excerptis. Septimo: TestimonioGenerosorum Stanislai Dembiński et Francisci Linoicski
sub Die ąuarta Mensis et Anni currentium. In scriptis dato dare pateat: olim Generosos Ber-
nardum Canaletti et Elisabetham Pizorno Conjuges hic Varsaviie relictis Tribus Filias, Josepha,
Francisca et Theresia-Josepha intestate et ąuidem Generosum Canaletti in Anno 1780, Con-
sortem vero ipsius in Anno 1785 de hac vita decessisse Conscąuenter vero binas filias ipsorum
ut pole: Josephom in Anno 1789 Die 18 Julij, Franciscam vero in Anno 1793 Die 10 Mensis
Novembris hic Varsavie in stato Nubili, ac proinde nulla prole felicta mortuas esse solamąue
et unicam Successtricem Theresiam-Josepham de Dorno Canalette Generosi Caroli a Perthees
Sa Ra Mttis Geographii Consortem in vita superrestasse. Quare hisce Documentis Authentice
coram suo Magistratu repositis insistendo dictam Generosam Theresiam-Josepham olim Ge-
nerosorum Bernardi Canaletti et Elisabetham Pizorno Conjugum Filiam esse ac post sterilem
dec.-ssum Josepha et Francisca sororum ipsius omnium et singulorum bonorum summarumąue
venetis locatarum, esse succestricem et haeredissam. Summasque praenominatas juxta leges
Nostras levare posse attestamur.

Irena Jakimowicz

GEORGE GROSZ'S WORKS IN THE COLLECTIONS OF THE
NATIONAL MUSEUM IN WARSAW

George Grosz died in Berlin on the 61,1 of July 1959. He died — as it is well known — only several
weeks after his return from the United States, wliere he remained during the latter half of his
creative life almost incessantly (with the exception of a few recent visits to Germany). He didn't
live to take part in the opening of a big, retrospective exhibition of his works arranged by the
Berlin Academy of Fine Arts. This exhibition — opened in December 1962 — became a posthu-
mous show, summing up an already closed, half a century long creative effort of that — so
very German — artist.

The catalogue of that exibition, provided with a rich bibliography, does not cover the whole
oeuvre of the artist, still it gives a fairly accurate picture of Grosz's work with the help of the
309 items it contains. It included oil p.aintings, watercolours, drawings and prints, dating from
1904 to 1958, and belonging primarily to the artist's rich bequest remaining in the United States
as well as to some public and private collections in the USA and Germany. This variegated selection,
picturing the whole development of Grosz's art, constituted a sufficient argumentative materiał
to formulate a statement that the artist cieated his best works, those defining his personality
and assuring his historical place, still before his departure to the USA.

The date of this departure — the year 1932 — points out that his decision to emigrate was
not solely prompted by his interest in America. For an uncompromising satirical artist of pro-
nounced leftist sympathies, imbued with the atmosphere of the vanguard activities of the dida
and futurist movements, there was no place in Hitler's Germany. But his second country, the
country of his choice, although it gave him shelter and citizenship (in 1938) could not provide
him with stimuli suitable for his artistic temperament. His return to Germany in 1959 was
only a symbolic gesture.

The Berlin exhibition (shown also in Dortmund and London) became an important artistic
event. It recalled the figurę of an artist so typical for the ideological atmosphere of the twenties;

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