Samuel Szczekacz

was born in Łódź on 3 May 1917 into an affluent Jewish family, the first-born son of Julia (Jenta) Offenbach and Roman (Abram Hersz) Szczekacz. He had a sister, Natalia (Niusia). His father ran the “Offenbach Central Baths” at 38 Zachodnia Street, inherited from his father-in-law. Szczekacz lived there with his family. They later moved to 72 11 Listopada Street (now Legionów Street). The artist’s father died young, and after his mother remarried the family moved once more, this time to 26 Śródmiejska Street (now Więckowskiego Street), where they remained until the war. Szczekacz attended the Icchak Kacenelson Jewish Boys’ Gymnasium in Łódź. Lessons were taught in Polish; pupils received “Jewish religious instruction” and also studied Hebrew. For the last two years before taking his school-leaving examination, Szczekacz attended the State Boys’ Gymnasium. At around the same time, together with his friends and future companions in the painting studio, Pinkus Szwarc and Julian Lewin, he belonged to a Zionist scouting troop.

In 1934, all three attended the studio of Maurycy Trębacz, a pupil of Jan Matejko and graduate of the Munich Academy. Szczekacz passed his school-leaving examination in 1935. That same year, together with Szwarc and Lewin — and initially Yehuda Tarmu as well — he became a private student of Władysław Strzemiński. At the same time, he and his friends attended evening courses in graphic art at Public Vocational Continuation School No. 10 in Łódź, where Strzemiński was headmaster.

On 29 December 1936, through Strzemiński’s intercession, Szczekacz was admitted to the Łódź district of the Trade Union of Polish Artists, which enabled him to participate in exhibitions: at the Institute for Art Propaganda in Łódź in January 1937 and April 1938; at the House of Artists in Kraków and in Lwów in November and December 1938; and once again at the Institute for Art Propaganda in Łódź in January 1939.

At the end of 1938, Szczekacz travelled to Belgium to study architecture. After a short time, however, he decided to settle in Palestine, where he began studying at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1939. There, he changed his surname to Zur.

In May 1940, he opened his first solo exhibition at the Student Organization of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, showing thirty-four abstract paintings under his new name, Samuel Zur. Another exhibition of his work was held at the Katz Gallery in Tel Aviv in July 1944.

During the war, the artist had no contact with his family, who were first confined in the Łódź Ghetto and later deported to a concentration camp. Only his younger sister survived the war.

He married Nicole Schpilka, with whom he had a daughter, Michele. He lived in Tel Aviv. For financial reasons, he worked in graphic and applied design. He also practised as an architect, specialising in the design of Israel’s pavilions for international trade fairs, including the 1966 fair in Poznań. He died in Paris on 27 September 1983.

Bibliography:

J. Ładnowska, Samuel Szczekacz/Samuel Zur – uczeń – kontynuator – artysta, in: Sztuka w Łodzi 2, SHS, Łódź 2003

Samuel Szczekacz 1917–1983, ed. Ulrike Graul, Galerie Berinson, Berlin 2009