4 January 1920, Sunday, 11 am

The exhibition¹ of the “best works of painting, sculpture and architecture”² was organised by the Circle of Jewish Art Enthusiasts on the initiative of Maks (Maksymilian Jakub) Bienenstock, a prominent educator, translator of fiction, literary critic and Senator of the Republic of Poland. Zygmunt Sperber, an architect from Lviv, co-organized the event and prepared a poster for it. 

The exhibition displayed works by contemporary artists from both older and younger generations, including several that had gained international recognition (Efraim Mosze Lilien*, Borys Schatz, Jerzy Merkel, Zygmunt Menkes, Leopold Gottlieb, and the Hirszenberg brothers). The exhibition was probably open until 7 February 1920*, when the “art evening” with an arts lottery³ took place.

Schulz’s name did not appear in the exhibition catalogue⁴. He added his works later on (perhaps at the suggestion of the painter Adolf Bienenstock*, whose works were also presented)⁵. The review published in Chwila on 21 January*, referring in a flattering manner to Schulz’s “newly exhibited sketches”⁶, proves that his works were indeed part of the exhibition at some point. 

Nothing is known either about the technique or the number of the sketches presented; it is also difficult to determine whether the phrase “newly exhibited” („nowo wystawione”) means as much as exhibited just now, or suggests that some of his works were shown in Lviv before.

It is possible that the opinion of another reviewer of the exhibition also refers to Schulz. Gabriel Kenan, positively assessing the pursuits of young artists, wrote: “This effort is absent in the illustration works presented by a few young artists who unnecessarily waste their strength to chase a grandiose literary subject matter which, sadly, would never replace the more profound content of actual artistic experience”⁷. (um) (transl. mw)

See also: exhibitions until 1942*.