A painter from Poland, Jan Lebenstein was born in 1930 in Brest Litovsk and died in 2000 in Krakow. He studied painting at Warsaw's Academy of Fine Arts (1948-54) under Artur Nacht-Samborski. He debuted in the period that preceded the post-1956 "thaw", during the "Against War, Against Fascism" Polish National Exhibition of Young Visual Arts at Warsaw's Arsenal (1955), showing a series of modest, nostalgic landscapes depicting the lackluster suburbs of Warsaw (Stary Rembertów / Old Rembertów, 1955).

Both their subject (everyday reality) and their language reflected the artist's fascination with the art of Utrillo. Within Poland, however, they constituted a distinct, independent creative style. Recognizing this, the exhibition jury aw...