Back Erna Rosenstein Once Upon a Time 30 Sept – 23 Dec 2021 Hauser & Wirth debuts ‘Erna Rosenstein: Once Upon a Time,’ the first monographic exhibition outside of Poland devoted to Erna Rosenstein (1913 – 2004) Explore the exhibition One of the key figures of the Polish avant-garde, Rosenstein’s wartime survival, commitment to Surrealism, and lifelong adherence to leftist ideologies course through a remarkable array of paintings, drawings, and assemblage sculptures, as well as poems, diaristic writings, and deceptively whimsical children’s stories. Steeped in an extraordinary history and responding to the Nazi occupation of Poland, personal traumas suffered in the Holocaust, the postwar sociopolitical upheaval of her native country, and passionate engagement in the intellectual circles of her times, Erna Rosenstein’s work defies simple classification. Her six-decades long career was fueled by the formation of prewar artistic, intellectual, and political affiliations, and is expressed through her continued oscillation between autobiographical figuration and biomorphic abstraction. Grappling with themes of memory, trauma, longing, and loss, she used paint, ink, and found materials to suggest a world tinged with allegory, enchantment, and fairy tale. Bez granic (Without Borders) Erna Rosenstein 1992 Nad głowami (Over the Heads) Erna Rosenstein 1967 Obecność (Presence) Erna Rosenstein 1990 Poświata (Afterglow) Erna Rosenstein 1968 Prześwit (Clearance) Erna Rosenstein 1968 Skarbiec (Treasure Chest) Erna Rosenstein 1976 ‘Once Upon a Time’ has been organized by curator Alison M. Gingeras. The exhibition brings together over forty works never seen outside of Poland, including institutional loans of landmark paintings and works from The Estate of Erna Rosenstein being exhibited publicly for the first time since the artist’s death in 2004. ‘Erna Rosenstein. Once Upon a Time’ is Hauser & Wirth’s first presentation of the artist’s work since undertaking representation of her estate in 2019, in collaboration with Foksal Gallery Foundation, Warsaw. ‘Once Upon a Time’ is comprised of paintings and sculptures that embody the constant interplay of figuration and abstraction, the literal and the fantastical, in Rosenstein’s oeuvre. The works on view draw from the many personal experiences, emotional losses, and haunting traumas surrounding her Jewish identity. A highlight of the first floor of the exhibition includes a zigzagging wall that recreates the unconventional design of Rosenstein’s landmark 1967 monographic exhibition at the Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw. Untitled Erna Rosenstein Undated Untitled Erna Rosenstein Undated Szafa (Cabinet) Erna Rosenstein c. 1960-2004 Północ (Portret matki) (Midnight [Portrait of the Artist’s Mother]) Erna Rosenstein 1979 Źródło (The Spring) Erna Rosenstein 1985 Świt (Portret ojca) (Dawn [Portrait of the Artist’s Father]) Erna Rosenstein 1979 Dating from the early 1950s to the end of the 1970s, abstracted landscapes and biomorphic reveries are hung on the wall in succession, demonstrating the intense focus of those two decades of her practice and reflecting the political and personal turmoil of those years. The work ‘Poświata (Afterglow)’ (1968), depicts a babbling brook running down from the valleys and rolling hills of a pastel landscape rendered in billowing pinks and citron greens, while in contrast, the painting ‘Kwiaty piekła (Hell Flowers)’ (1968) is saturated in deep reds and vibrating biological forms, evoking the sensation of nerve endings or internal organs. In addition to a survey of Rosenstein’s multifaceted painting work, ‘Once Upon a Time’ also includes a selection of untitled assemblages made by the artist beginning in the early 1980s, a period of martial law in Poland when scarcity prevailed. These works – among them a cigarette pack with eyes, and an old purse with teeth – transform the most everyday bric-a-brac into the substance of art, and further collapsing boundaries between figuration and abstraction. They reflect the whimsical and childlike aspects of Rosenstein’s practice and mirror the artist’s early Surrealist expressions. Tryptyk ciszy i ognia (Silence and Fire Triptych) Erna Rosenstein 1974 Usta (Lips) Erna Rosenstein 1989 Wciąż trwa (Lasting Still) Erna Rosenstein 1990 Exhibition Guide Explore the exhibition in greater depth with the exhibition guide highlighting key works and themes in the exhibition. This richly illustrated guide includes insightful text by curator Alison M. Gingeras and rare archival images. Physical copies are available at the gallery. About the artist Born in 1913 in Lwów (now the Ukrainian city Lviv) and raised in Kraków, Erna Rosenstein emerged as part of the Polish avant-garde in the 1930s, associated with the Kraków Group. She studied at the Wiener Frauen Akademie in Vienna in 1932-1934 and then at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków between 1934-1937. She was part of a tight-knit circle whose artistic innovations were rooted in socially progressive left-leaning politics and who mobilized actions under the Communist Union of Polish Youth. As part of the Kraków Group, she identified with such fellow artists as Jonasz Stern, Jadwiga Maziarska, and especially, Tadeusz Kantor, whose underground experimental artistic and theater activities embraced Surrealism. Erna Rosenstein in her studio on Karłowicza Street in Warsaw, 1958. Photography: Tadeusz Rolke, Agencja Gazeta Learn more On View in New York ‘Erna Rosenstein. Once Upon a Time’ is on view through at Hauser & Wirth New York, 69th Street through 23 Dec. In accordance with local guidelines and to ensure the health and safety of all our guests and staff, masks are required inside the exhibition, as well as proof of COVID-19 vaccination. For further information please refer to current local guidelines provided by New York City as well as the CDC website. Plan your visit Inquire about available works by Erna Rosenstein Erna Rosenstein Once Upon a Time From as early as the 1940s, Rosenstein’s writings coexisted alongside her visual art practice. After the birth of her son, Adam Sandauer, in 1950, she began composing fairytales. Much like her paintings, these drew their narratives from the tension between magical realism and a bleak, pragmatic reality replete with loneliness and misfortune. Often, Rosenstein’s writings became allegories of her own Polish Jewish experience with anti- Semitism. The bright, whimsical watercolor illustrations of Rosenstein’s ‘Historyjka o przygodach ślimaka i jego przyjaciół (Tiny Tale of Snail and All His Friends)’ (1997 – 2001) brings a cast of animal kingdom characters to life and follows the journey of the Cow-Snail family in lessons of rejection, acceptance, indifference, and love, drawing parallels to her family’s own real-life struggles. The work, whose manuscript was recently discovered in the Polish National Library in Warsaw, is the only known fairy tale illustrated by Erna Rosenstein herself and is included in the new volume published by Hauser & Wirth Publishers. – ‘Erna Rosenstein. Once Upon a Time’ is on view now through 23 Dec 2021 at Hauser & Wirth New York, 69th Street. Plan your visit → © 2021 Hauser & Wirth | Terms & Conditions The artworks described above are subject to changes in availability and price without prior notice. Prices excl. 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