Karol Hiller

Polish painter, graphic artist, photographer, art critic, and educator, regarded as one of the leading figures of the Polish interwar avant-garde. He studied chemistry in Darmstadt and architecture in Warsaw before enrolling, after the First World War, at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kyiv, where he studied under Mykhailo Boychuk. Returning to Łódź in 1921, he became a central figure in the city's artistic community, combining his creative practice with teaching, art criticism, and cultural organization. During the 1920s he emerged as one of the principal representatives of Polish Avantgarde, producing works inspired by modernity, architecture, and the industrial landscape of Łódź. In 1928 he developed his original technique of heliography, considered one of the most innovative achievements of the Polish avant-garde. In the 1930s his work evolved toward biomorphic abstraction and organic forms, drawing inspiration from the philosophy of Henri Bergson and the poetics of Surrealism. He also created photomontages, posters, book illustrations, stage designs, stained-glass works, and mural paintings. His works are held in the collections of Poland's leading museums, including the Museum of Art in Łódź and the National Museum in Warsaw. Arrested after the outbreak of the Second World War, he was murdered by the German occupying forces in December 1939.