Maria Rużycka

Polish painter and graphic artist Maria Rużycka studied drawing at the State Technical School in Lviv and, after receiving her BA, from 1925-29 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, and later at the School of Fine Arts in Warszawa. Among her teachers were art Olympians Felicjan Kowarski and Władysław Skoczylas. Subsequently, she lived and worked alternately in Warszawa and Lviv. In 1936 she represented Poland at the Olympic Art Competitions in Berlin. Her woodcut Na grani (On the ridge) had been selected in the Polish national competition. It was probably part of her portfolio Sport, created in 1936.

She spent the following year on a scholarship in Paris. As a member of the “Ryt” group of graphic artists, she received numerous awards. World War II interrupted her brilliant artistic career, as she was forced into hiding during the Nazi occupation. In 1945 Rużycka settled in Görlitz, where she married Stanisław Gabryel, a teacher of Polish studies. She became a member of the Association of Polish Artists and Designers. Ruzycka left a lot of graphic works (etchings and woodcuts) and paintings devoted to the region around the sister cities of Gorlice in Poland and Görlitz in former GDR. She was an avid skier and loved water sports, often reflected in the subjects of her works.