Martin KITZ (1891-1943), Roses in a Vase, 1934

Watercolor on pencil underdrawing, paper; 32.2 x 23 cm;
Signed and dated p. d.: M. Kitz 14. VI 934 (in pencil);
below repeated 14. VI 934;
On the back printed sticker: AUGUST SCHOANNINGER/ AS MUANNCHEN/ DACHAUERSTR./ SENDLINGERSTR./ 86265 [number inscribed in pencil].
Marcin Kitz was born in 1891. He began his artistic studies in Lviv under Stanislaw Rejchan and Kaczor Batowski. He continued his studies in 1919-1920 with Ignacy Pienkowski at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow, and later also at the Free School of Painting and Drawing of Ludwika Mehofferowa there. He also trained in Berlin, Munich and Vienna. He traveled extensively in Europe visiting France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. Between 1939 and 1941 he stayed in Moscow for a while; and in 1940 he participated in an exhibition of Lviv artists shown in Moscow, Kharkiv and Kyiv. In 1943 he was arrested and murdered for helping to hide Jews during the German occupation of Lviv.