Crucifixion

Baptism was a deep, religious experience for Marek Szwarc. After he converted to Catholicism in 1920, together with his wife Gina, the Catholic faith became the main spiritual source of inspiration for the Jewish Christian artist (as he referred to himself). When, in 1917, he was working on Ukrzyżowanie [Crucifixion] (he published one of its versions on the pages of the Jung Idysz almanac no. 2–3, p. 10), the baptism was still a distant perspective. Ukrzyżowanie [Crucifixion] is one of Szwarc’s most interesting works from the period of his engagement with Yung Yidish. In the works of some of the fellow artists of the group (Icchak V. Brauner, Henryk Barczyński), Christian iconography was, on the one hand, used to point at the universal values; on the other (like in Szwarc’s case), it was routed in the spiritual pursuit.Akt kobiecy [Female Nude] reproduced on the pages of Jung Idysz (MPOLIN-M35), Ukrzyżowanie [Crucifixion], 1952 (MPOLIN-M33).RP