Henryk Guterman (1913-1938): A Talent Killed - Tenth Pavilion, Warsaw Citadel

The exhibition “Henryk Guterman (1913-1938) - zabity talent” (A Talent Killed) is about a painter born in Częstochowa who was killed in the Spanish Civil War as a soldier of the Jarosław Dąbrowski Brigade. The Museum of Independence (Muzeum Niepodległości) calls it the artist’s first solo exhibition. It runs 30 October 2026 - 17 January 2027 at the Museum of the Tenth Pavilion of the Warsaw Citadel and opens with a private view, described in the Events section.

The Museum of Independence on the exhibition (our translation):

The exhibition “Henryk Guterman (1913-1938) - zabity talent” (A Talent Killed) is the story of the remarkable talent of an artist whose life and work were tragically cut short at a young age. It was organised on the 90th anniversary of the outbreak of the civil war in Spain, in which Guterman was killed as a soldier of the Jarosław Dąbrowski Brigade. It is an attempt to restore the memory of the output of an artist whose legacy was dispersed, and the complete set of works in the collections of the Museum of Independence is probably among the largest to survive.

Henryk, or more properly Henoch, Guterman - a Polish painter of Jewish roots, born in Częstochowa - made drawings that reveal not only great sensitivity but also remarkable technical skill. Many of them show scenes we still know today from the fronts of the wars being fought around the world and from the experiences of civilians in countries engulfed by conflict. This is precisely what makes these works timeless - they show the tragedy of war, which has lost none of its relevance. They are also of exceptional importance to the Museum of Independence, as they bear the first inventory numbers (1 to 68) in its collection of prints and drawings, symbolically opening the collection of works on paper, whose beginnings go back to the Museum of the History of the Polish Revolutionary Movement. Handed over to the museum in 1959, they became some of the first objects to build this collection and a testimony to the memory of an artist whose output was saved by his former comrades-in-arms.

The title of the exhibition, “zabity talent” (a talent killed), refers not only to the artist’s prematurely ended life but also to lost opportunities, an interrupted career and works that were never created. The presentation in the Tenth Pavilion of the Warsaw Citadel - a special place on the map of Warsaw’s historical memory - gives Guterman’s biography and works an additional, symbolic context. It is the first solo exhibition of the artist who, 90 years ago, set out to help Spain in its fight against the regime of General Franco.

What to expect

This is an exhibition of a single artist, not a survey of the history of the war in Spain. The museum promises a story about Guterman’s talent and his drawings, many of which show scenes from the fronts of wars and the experiences of civilians in countries engulfed by conflict.

The museum writes that it holds a complete set of the artist’s works which is probably among the largest to survive; Guterman’s legacy was dispersed. It does not say, however, how many works it will show or in which gallery of the Tenth Pavilion the exhibition will be.

Guterman’s drawings have a special place in the museum. They came to it in 1959, and according to the museum, the artist’s output was saved by his former comrades-in-arms. In the prints and drawings collection they bear the first inventory numbers, 1 to 68; these are numbers in the museum’s inventory, not the number of works in the exhibition, which the museum does not give.

The collection of works on paper goes back, as the museum writes, to the days of the Museum of the History of the Polish Revolutionary Movement (Muzeum Historii Polskiego Ruchu Rewolucyjnego). Today’s Museum of Independence was created on 30 January 1990 from the transformation of that museum together with the Lenin Museum.

The museum relates the title “zabity talent” (a talent killed) not only to the artist’s prematurely ended life but also to an interrupted career and to works that were never created. The exhibition was prepared by Małgorzata Karolina Piekarska, head of the Collections Department of the Museum of Independence.

The place matters here. The Tenth Pavilion was the central investigative prison for political prisoners, and among its inmates the museum names Jarosław Dąbrowski, the patron of the brigade in which Guterman fought. The museum writes that showing the exhibition in this place gives the artist’s biography and works an additional, symbolic context.

Context

Dąbrowszczacy (the Dąbrowski men) is the colloquial name for the XIII Jarosław Dąbrowski International Brigade: volunteer units formed mainly by Poles, including emigrants, which fought in the Spanish Civil War on the Republican side against the Nationalists of General Francisco Franco. About 5,200 Poles fought for the Republic, and about 3,000 were killed. The brigade was named after Jarosław Dąbrowski, a 19th-century general and commander-in-chief of the forces of the Paris Commune, who had earlier been imprisoned in the Tenth Pavilion for two years.

Tickets and time

• Where: in the building of the Museum of the Tenth Pavilion of the Warsaw Citadel, a branch of the Museum of Independence. The museum does not say in which gallery the exhibition will be. Directions are on the museum profile.
• When: the exhibition runs 30 October 2026 - 17 January 2027; the private view takes place on the first day and is described in the Events section.
• Ticket: the museum lists no separate ticket for this exhibition. Its price list covers a single entry to the museum or a branch and is on the For Visitors page. Tickets are sold online through the Museum of Independence ticketing system.
• Free day: free admission on Thursdays, with a free ticket. The museum gives this rule for the whole branch and names no exceptions for temporary exhibitions.
• Hours: the exhibition is in the branch building, so the branch’s hours apply: Tue-Sun: 10:00-17:00, Mon: closed.
• How long: the museum gives neither the number of works nor a visiting time. By our editors’ estimate, about half an hour is enough for this exhibition of one artist’s drawings on its own. The ticket covers entry to the whole branch, so it is worth combining with the permanent exhibition of the Tenth Pavilion.
• Who it’s for: people interested in the Polish volunteers in the Spanish Civil War and in drawings about war and its civilian victims. Also those who want to see the first objects of the Museum of Independence’s collection of works on paper.
• Who can skip it: anyone looking for a broad historical exhibition about the war in Spain: the museum promises the story of one artist, his first solo exhibition. Also anyone who comes to the Tenth Pavilion for the history of the former prison - this exhibition is above all about the work of one man.
• In English: the museum does not say whether the exhibition labels will also be in English, and the branch’s website has no English version.

Events

• 30 October 2026, 18:00 - the private view of the exhibition at the Museum of the Tenth Pavilion of the Warsaw Citadel, announced in the branch’s October programme. The museum does not say whether the private view is open to everyone or how to sign up for it.

See also

• Museum of the Tenth Pavilion of the Warsaw Citadel - a permanent exhibition in the former prison interiors, devoted mainly to former prisoners, among whom the museum names Jarosław Dąbrowski, and the gallery of paintings by Aleksander Sochaczewski with 118 paintings and sketches.
• The Conquest of Space - in the same branch, in the Poster Gallery of the Tenth Pavilion museum, posters from the collections of the Museum of Independence; for the first weeks of the Guterman exhibition, both can be seen on a single visit.
• In the Very Bowels of Changes: Surrealism and Antifascism - at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, a separate part of the exhibition is devoted to the Spanish Civil War; the museum writes that surrealists fought in that war and that artists in the exhibition were committed to the Republican cause.
• Images of Identity. The Collection of Berlin’s Pre-War Jewish Museum - at the Jewish Historical Institute, the story of collections that were dispersed or lost after Kristallnacht, and of their fate after 1938; a good complement to an exhibition that aims to restore the memory of Guterman’s dispersed legacy.

Museum profile: Museum of the Tenth Pavilion of the Warsaw Citadel.