Take into consideration only achievements of those who pave the way

Being a rolling stone, the need to fulfil herself and to cross borders were parts of her character. She crossed them most of all in her art. An image of a calm, warm, and charming woman was created by people who did not approach her art-wise. If something concerned art, she was quite the opposite. The life of Katarzyna Kobro, a sculptress, known in fragments and reconstructed on the basis of accounts, memories, documents and photos, looks like a movie script. In fact, it has become one.

It is set against the background of the most important events of the 20th century history of our part of Europe: World War I, revolution in Russia, Poland regaining independence, Polish-Soviet war, World War II and another change of the European order.

Katia Kobro, a young volunteer in a Moscow hospital, met Wladyslaw Strzeminski when he lost his hand and leg on the frontline. She started art studies in the autumn of 1917. She belonged to the trade union of Moscow painters (together with Kazimierz Malewicz, Aleksander Radczenko and Vladimir Tatlin). They got married in Smolensk (it was the year of the Miracle at the Vistula, the decisive battle of the Polish–Soviet War) and defected to Poland. Kobro’s avant-garde art flourished in Łódź. The couple of artists set new perspectives in art. Together, they composed radical essays and organised a collection of modern art, which was rejected both by communists and the Nazis, and which became the first exhibits of the Museum of Art in Łódź.

Kostek Lichtenstein: Where is this famous notebook of Katarzyna Kobro, mentioned in papers about the artist?

Zenobia Karnicka, curator of the Museum of Art in Łódź: I have never seen that notebook. Its existence was revealed to me by Nika Strzeminska. The notebook contains Kobro’s notes, made during her and Strzeminski’s struggle for the right to exercise legal care over their child, as well as during the period before she denounced Polish citizenship during World War II. Kobro tried to refresh her memory as to her husband’s behaviour, but the notes are filtered by their conflict, hence, they may be blown out of proportion. Nika only mentioned that it contains very drastic notes. Most probably, the notebook is in possession of Georg Kobro, Katarzyna’s nephew and heir. I think that these notes will never see daylight again. Nika wanted to destroy them. The notebook contains various information, like the description of their escape from Łódź in 1939 and their stay in Wilejka. Kobro mentioned that she beat the world record by managing to live without stockings for half a year, and she described how she towed Strzeminski on the sledge to the school he worked in. These are the only remarks about Strzeminski’s handicap and the related torment that Kobro suffered being a woman who had to take care of him. It is a very sensitive subject. We do not know if she wrote that because she was upset with her husband or because she had a general feeling that life with a handicapped man was a huge burden and she suddenly felt an urge to talk about it.

Do these post-war notes, related to tragic events from the artist’s private life, contain any information about art?

I think there is nothing about art there. If there was, then Nika would surely use them. It is a kind of a catalogue of accusations against her husband in child-related issues, saying that she is a good mother and her daughter should stay with her and not with a handicapped father. Whether she did it on a lawyer’s advice or on her own accord remains to be explored.

Are there any previous notes, maybe a kind of a diary?

It is truly amazing that, except for known letters from Strzeminski to other people, mentioning husband-wife relations from time to time, there is virtually nothing which could be regarded as private notes. What is interesting is the fact that Strzeminski wrote about Kobro’s unworthy behaviour only in his post-war letters.

Nothing remained or we do not know if there was anything at all?

There had to be some correspondence, at least with her family. She used to write to Maria, her youngest sister, who lived in Moscow, and to her father in Riga. I have recently found out that about 12 letters from Kobro to her sister, Wiera, were preserved. They are in possession of Georg Kobro, who prepares them for printing. Letters in Russian will be printed out in German. I have never seen them and I do not know their dating. It is a very mysterious issue.

Can we assume, then, that there are more of her letters and there is a chance that they will be revealed one day?

Yes, I believe. Some things will get revealed with time. Correspondence between Kobro and Jerzy Stemplewski was richer than we realise. It is a very interesting story. Stemplewski, the stepson of Maria Dąbrowska, an extraordinary man, writer, man of literature, culture and history, was connected to Riga at a time. We could say that he worked for Polish intelligence during preparations for the Peace of Riga. Maria Dąbrowska notes in her diaries that Kobro is an artist of those small, roguish sculptures. This is how she sees and calls her: Kobra (Polish for cobra).

Kobro left behind a hidden notebook. Did Strzeminski write anything about their life together?

There is, obviously, this famous novel by Strzeminski which has neither beginning nor the end. It lacks the first chapter, starts with the second one (as far as I remember), and it ends with chapter seven. It remained unfinished since Strzeminski was taken to hospital and was unable to finish it. We know that it was given to Zofia Nalkowska, who noted later that she felt remorse for not reading it and that Strzeminski has some terrible problems with his wife. The novel survived. One of his students, Jerzy Mackiewicz, secured it and presented to the artist’s daughter in the 1980s. The novel went to the museum. Nika left it to us as a part of her last will. She published short fragments; it was referred to by many scholars. Nika did not publish it as a whole nor allowed for it to be published. I was granted such a right during preparations for Katarzyna Kobro’s exhibition.

What kind of a novel is it?

When I read it for the first time I was impressed by the amount of autobiographical elements it contained. It is an attempt to tell a story of two couples. Second stage characters include real names, like Karol Hiller, one of the first victims of Germans during the war. The book is written in a very difficult language, full of expression and metaphors. If we look at Strzeminski’s own titles of his particular works, like Moim przyjaciołom Żydom (To my friends, the Jews), we can see a kind of quotes taken from this novel. Sometimes, it assumes the form of a free narrative, a kind of a stream of consciousness. It requires, of course, a deep and thorough study by the scholars of literature. The museum wants to publish it in the nearest future, also due to autobiographical reasons. I think that it is impossible to understand the nature of conflict between the couple without reading this novel.

Their daughter wrote about love which turned into hate.

The element of betrayal is vital here. National treason of a woman against a man in the sense that she forced him to the most horrible thing ever – to renounce his national identity by signing the Russian list. The novel features a woman who runs to a Russian committee shortly after the war started. Historical circumstances are described in detail. She signs the Russian list to protect herself and her baby while leaving her husband no choice whatsoever. He may protect their baby too, or remain a Pole, but not a husband and a father anymore. It could be compared to ‘Sophie’s Choice’. He denounces Polish citizenship. As a result, they cannot save their relationship, conflicts and dramas accumulate, and Kobro herself becomes a victim of the relationship. It is a very complex story, provided that what Strzeminski wrote in his novel was truth.

There are two books by Kobro’s daughter, but they seem to be showing the author’s attitude to win her mother a place in the pantheon of art, while leaving no room to introduce her as a person, what she liked, what her tastes were.

Yes, there is not much about her. Nika writes about dogs which were with the family. She does not reveal the fact that her parents smoked and drank a lot of coffee – we learn about it from other sources. Nika was born late in their lives. She was a small child during those dramatic events.

You analysed all available materials concerning Katarzyna Kobro while you were preparing exhibitions and catalogues. How do you imagine her?

A tragic person who got totally confused at one point of her life. She was in a very strong relationship with Strzeminski, both emotionally and spiritually. They inspired and complemented each other. She took care of practical aspects, he was concerned with promotion. Today we could say that she was into marketing, and he was into PR. It was her who negotiated and set prices with printers, while he did everything to promote and protect her. It was Strzeminski who fought in each and every text to win her the right place. At one point, it all broke down. He wrote that the sculptures which she made in 1948 were not good enough for ‘they lacked his correction’. Despite hatred that erupted between them, she always said that where art was concerned he knew best.

In respect of artistic and avant-garde achievements of the couple, the most important are the 1920s and the 1930s, i.e. a period which they spent near Łódź and, later, in Łódź. Here, they created and wrote about art.

They appeared together, she being even more stern and radical about art issues. She was remembered as a talented student in Smolensk. Being a rolling stone, the need to fulfil herself and to cross borders were parts of her character. An image of a calm, warm, and charming woman was created by people who did not approach her art-wise. If something concerned art, she was quite the opposite.