- Stefan Themerson
Stefan Themerson was a Polish, later British poet, novelist, film-maker, composer and philosopher.
Early life
Stefan Themerson was born in
Płock in what was then theRussian Empire on 25 January 1910 and died inLondon on 6 September 1988.His father, Mieczysław Themerson, was a physician, social reformer and aspiring writer (some of his work was published) of Jewish descent. His mother, also Jewish by ancestry, was Ludwika Smulewicz. During theFirst World War Dr. Themerson served as a medical officer in theTsar 's army and his family lived inRiga ,St. Petersburg andWielkie Luki . In 1918 they returned to Płock, in an independent Poland, where Stefan attended the KingWładisław Jagiello Gymnasium. In this time he showed his first interest in photography and built a radio receiver.In 1928 Themerson went toWarsaw as a student, studying firstphysics at the University of Warsaw and then, after a year,architecture at theÉcole Polytechnique , but actually spending most of his time working atphotography ,collage andfilm-making . His first published piece of writing was also in 1928. He never formally left his studies but gradually withdrew to follow his other interests. It was about then that Themerson met- or met again- Franciszka Weinles, an art student, who he married in 1931.1931 to 1935
During these years the Themersons lived and worked in Warsaw. Stefan contributed articles to various periodicals and prose and verse to school textbooks and wrote at least ten books for children which Franciszka illustrated. "Pan Tom Buduje Dom" ["Mr Rouse Builds His House"] is still in print in Poland. Stefan also experimented with
photogram s and the two of them made five short experimental films "Apteka""Pharmacy" (1930), "Europa" (1931-1932), "Drobiazg Melodyjny" ["Musical Moment"] (1933), "Zwarcie" ["Short Circuit"] (1935) and "Przygoda Czlowieka Poczciwego" ["The Adventures of a Good Citizen"] (1937). These were shown with other experimental films of the time. Most of them are lost now, but the script for "Europa", based on a poem byAnatol Stern was later published by the Themersons' "Gaberbocchus Press ", illustrated by surviving stills from the film and "Apteka" was remade from descriptions of it when it first appeared, stills and storyboards. In 1935, with other young film-makers, they founded a cooperative, "S.A.F" ("Spoldzielnia Autorow Filmowych"] .1936 to 1939
In 1936 and 1937 the Themersons visited
Paris , still the centre of the world foravant-garde art, and London, meeting Moholy-Nagy and other experimental artists and exhibited films in Warsaw for the first time when they returned. They also published a review "F [ilm] A [rtistique] ", Stefan as editor, Franciszka as artistic editor, which lasted two issues. In the winter of 1937 they both moved to Paris ("I just knew I had to be in Paris." Themerson said.) where they found a circle of artists and writers, many Polish, to live among. They thought of staying for good. Themerson wrote for Polish school textbooks and for Polish publications in Paris. With the coming of war, in 1939 Themerson volunteered for the Polish army forming in France after the German and Soviet invasions and division of Poland.Second World War In 1940 Themerson was called up into a Polish infantry regiment, just in time for the débacle of the German invasion and the Allies' collapse. His memory was of marching day and night in summer heat to
St-Nazaire . There, in June, the regiment was disbanded, the officers abandoning their men and the men dispersing where they could. Themerson himself travelled round France, visiting occupied Paris,Toulouse , where- through the PolishRed Cross - he got in touch again with Franciszka, who had worked for thePolish Government in Exile as acartographer and had escaped from Paris toNormandy and then London. He spent time in refugee camps, worked as a farm labourer, and spent over a year in the Polish Red Cross-run Hôtel de la Poste inVoiron . Here he began writing "Professor Mmaa's Lecture " in Polish and wrote the long poem "Croquis dans les Ténèbres" ["Sketches in he Shadows"] . Towards the end of 1942 Themerson got across France andSpain viaMarseilles toLisbon where he was flown to Britain by the R.A.F., rejoining his wife and re-enlisting in the Polish army. He spent time with the army in Scotland, where he finished "Professor Mmaa", and then was sent to join the film unit of the Polish Ministry of Information and Documentation in London. There he and Franciszka made two short films, "Calling Mr Smith", an account ofNazi atrocities in Poland and "The Eye and the Ear", inspired by four songs by Szymanowski. In 1944 at thePEN club meeting to celebrate the three hundredth anniversary ofMilton 'sAreopagitica Themerson metKurt Schwitters , who was a close friend until his death. At about the same time he met others who remained close, includingJankel Adler ,Julian Trevelyan andAnthony Froshaug . Also in 1944 the Themersons moved toMaida Vale , where they lived for the rest of their lives.Stefan and Franciszka Themerson published books through their own "Gaberbocchus Press" from 1948 to 1979, many of them with Franciszka's illustrations, and sometimes working with the translator
Barbara Wright . Among those books were works byGuillaume Apollinaire andKurt Schwitters , the first English translation ofAlfred Jarry 's "Ubu Roi ",Raymond Queneau 's "Exercises in Style " and "The Good Citizen's Alphabet " byBertrand Russell . The latter wrote a warm preface to "Professor Mmaa’s Lecture".External links
* [http://www.xs4all.nl/~nmars/Themerson.html Bibliography] of works by Stefan Themerson
* [http://www.themersonarchive.com/index.htm Stefan and Franciszka Themerson archive]
* [http://www.gaberbocchus.nl Gaberbocchus Press website]
* [http://www.centerforbookculture.org/context/no16/Themerson.html "Context" article]
* [http://www.lux.org.uk/featured/apteka.htm Description of remake of "Apteka"]
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