Maurycy Trebacz

He studied drawing in Warsaw with Wojciecha Gersona and Aleksandra Kaminski, thanks to a scholarship from a lawyer Stanislaw Rotwanda and the support of Leopold Horowitz. He got a silver medal for painting martyrs. In his creation, we see historical realism expressed through salon scenes, landscapes, portraits and compositions on Jewish themes. He was influenced for many years by the Munich school. In 1888, he visited Lodz for the fist time. In 1889-1894 he was in Paris (he got a bronze medal during a world exhibition for his picture "Recovering Woman") and Munich with Smauel Hirshenberg. Later he settled in Warsaw. He settled for good in Lodz on May 2, 1918 at 39 Zawadzkiej Street. From Jan. 20, 1919 to Sept. 1939, he led a private school of drawing and painting. He liked to meet in his studio with other artists of his generation: Nathan Altman, David Modenstein and Leopold Pilichowski. In the city gallery, they had an exhibit of his 50 years of artistic work. Between the wars, he was still a realist, unconnected to any artistic group. In 1932, he lost the Lodz prize to Wladyslaw Strzeminski. His consolation prize was 125 zlotys a month for life, taken from the fund for the elderly and disabled. He lived in the Lodz ghetto. He died in the Liztmanstadt ghetto during World War II. He was buried at Brakiej Street, grave #490. A few years ago his paintings were presented during a monographic exposition in the Gallery of Museum of History of Lodz. Maurycy's painting "The Good Samaritan" was stolen at the World's Fair of 1904 and recently sold at auction at Sotheby's.