Martin KITZ (1891-1943), "Mother and Child," 1922

oil, canvas pasted on cardboard, 45 x 37 cm,
Signed p.d.: M. Kitz / (illegible inscription) VII. 922

Painter and printmaker associated with the artistic community of Lviv. He studied in Lvov with Stanislaw Rejchan and Stanislaw Kaczor-Batowski, and continued his studies with Ignacy Pienkowski at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. He completed his studies in Berlin under Maks Liebermann, and in Munich and Vienna. He traveled to France, Spain, Holland and Italy. Between 1939 and 1941 he briefly stayed in Moscow. In 1940 he took part in exhibitions in Moscow, Kiev and Kharkov. He exhibited his works at the Lwow and Cracow TPSP, and the TZSP in Warsaw, among others. He had numerous solo exhibitions in his native Lviv. The subjects of his works were landscapes, genre scenes, still lifes, portraits, painted freely with broad brushstrokes, stylistically referring to the achievements of Impressionism. In 1943 in Lviv, he was arrested and murdered for hiding Jews.