Born in Toruń (at the time part of the German Empire) on 2 January 1889. His father, Dr. Leon Szuman, had a private surgical clinic. As a young man, Stefan Szuman had artistic interests: he drew, played the piano and violin. In 1908, after graduating from a Prussian gymnasium, most probably against his passions, perhaps pressurized by his father who perceived him as his successor, he undertook a medical degree in Wrocław, which he continued in Paris and Würtzburg,holding an internship in Munich. In 1914 he became adoctor of medicine, specializing in surgery. During World War I Szuman served as an army doctor, both on the eastern and western fronts. In spring 1916 as a German soldier hecame to Drogobych. In November 1917 Szuman was shot in the leg in the battle of Cambrai. In 1919 he joined the Polish uprising in the region of Wielkopolska, annexed in 1795 by Prussia. He took part in the Polish-Bolshevik war as an army doctor. At the end of 1920 the index finger of his right hand was amputated, after it became infected by a patient’s bone during surgery. This ended his career as a surgeon.
After the war he settled in Poznań where in 1921 he became a student of Aesthetics and Philosophy at the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Poznań. He also began an art degree at the Decorative Arts School, which he abandoned after several months. In 1922 he became a student of psychology. He started work at the school board in Poznań as a school inspector of hygiene and physical education.
In 1927 he earned a degree in psychology, publishing a study Sztuka dziecka. Psychologia twórczości rysunkowej dziecka. In the same year he was granted his habilitation. After that he did a research internship in Geneva. In 1928 he became Director of the Department of Pedagogical Psychology at the Jagellonian University. In 1934 he received the title of Professor of Psychology. In his research he focused on the psychology of creativity and aesthetic education as well as the theory of personality.
Stefan Szuman’s documented friendship with Bruno Schulz lasted between July 1932 and November 1933. Szuman met Schulz in July 1932 in Żywiec. Schulz participated in a summer course for arts and crafts teachers, during which Szuman gave lectures on psychology. Schulz decided to ask the professor for his opinion about the manuscript of a volume of fiction. Somewhat sceptically, Szuman agreed to read Wspomnienia o ojcu (Memories about My Father). Fascinated with the texts, he offered to give the manuscript to a literary critic from Cracow, Kazimierz Czachowski. He suggested a change of title into Sklepy cynamonowe (The Cinammon Shops). Several days later Szuman sent Schulz, who was still in Żywiec at that time an unpublished collection of his poems. Schulz replied on 24 July 1932 with a letter containing an enthusiastic discussion of selected poems, comparing his work to that of Rainer Maria Rilke.
Schulz paid Szuman several visits in Cracow. He gave him a copy of Rilke’s Duino Elegies. The professor did not remember what these conversations concerned. Certainly it was not Schulz’s artwork. As Szuman confessed in a letter to Jerzy Ficowski, he had not seen Schulz’s artwork during Schulz’s lifetime.
In October 1933 Szuman sent Schulz a newly published collection of poems Drzwi uchylone, published under a pseudonim Łukasz Flis with Ferdynand Hoesick Press in Warsaw. Schulz replied 22 October 1933 with a letter complimenting the collection. In another letter from 24 November 1933, Schulz described his conversation with Zofia Nałkowska about the collection, and thanks Szuman for sending him some large book written by the professor and invites him to Zakopane, where Szuman could meet Nałkowska. Most probably the meeting never came to pass because Nałkowska met professor Szumanonly after the war.
In September 1939 he organized a first aid station in Chrzanów. Later he became engaged in underground education. In 1944 he joined the Home Army, taking part in the fight in Miechów County as a doctor with the Skała battalion under the pseudonym Flis.
After World War II he was Director of the Department of Pedagogical Psychology at the Jagellonian University. He also taught at the Higher Pedagogical School in Cracow. In 1946–1948 he was Chancellor. He wrote a script of a short educational film titled Ręce dziecka (1946, dir. Tadeusz Makarczyński). He died on 16 May 1972 in Warsaw. (mr)
