Halina Korn 1902-1978

Halina Korngold was born into a Jewish family in Warsaw, Poland on 22 January 1902 and initially trained as a singer. In 1939, on holiday in France, she met the Polish painter Marek Żuławski, but they were separated by the outbreak of war and following the Nazi occupation of France in 1940, she sailed to England and was held in a British refugee camp before being reunited with Żuławski, whom she married. She was largely self-taught as a painter and sculptor, although encouraged by her husband, and signed her works ‘Halina Korn’. After the war, having learned that her entire family had been killed (her sister, Jadzia, perished in Auschwitz), she suffered from depression and was later diagnosed as bipolar. Her art acted as a powerful form of therapy and she concentrated on everyday life and subjects. A solo exhibition of her London works was held at the Mayor Gallery, London in 1948, and she was a member of both the Artist’s International Association and the Women’s International Art Club. She also exhibited with the London Group, at the Royal Academy and at Ben Uri. Halina Korn died in London, England on 2 October 1978.