Catalogue of an exhibition of graphic works by Romek Marber, a distinguished Polish-Jewish artist who has been living and working in Great Britain since 1946.
Romek Marber was born in 1925 in Turek, Poland. After the outbreak of the Second World War he was deported to the Bochnia Ghetto. In 1942, thanks to the help of a German officer named Gerhard Kurzbach, he was fortunately spared the fate of being transported to the Bełżec death camp. In 1943, Marber managed to escape the ghetto, but was arrested by the Gestapo in Krakow and imprisoned. After a few weeks of being in prison, he was sent to Płaszów concentration camp.
“On 14th of January 1945 with a small group of prisoners I was marched from Płaszow Concentration Camp to Auschwitz Concentration Camp. Thousands of prisoners joined us in Auschwitz. Together we were marched to Gliwice and loaded into open railway wagons to be transported to Germany. This was my last day in Poland”, he wrote.
After the war, Marber immigrated to Great Britain and in the early 1950s he began his education at the St Martin's School of Art, later attending the prestigious Royal College of Art. After graduating from the Royal College of Art he began to create graphic works for "The Economist" and "New Society". His works were praised by the creative director of the Penguin Publishing Press, leading to Marber signing a contract to create graphic designs for one of Penguin's most popular series - The Penguin Crime Series. The layout Marber proposed is considered one of the most important achievements of British graphic design. In 1964, Marber was employed as artistic director of "The Observer Magazine".
Romek Marber is relatively unknown within his native Poland. The exhibition at the Galicia Jewish Museum is the first opportunity for a Polish viewer to interact with his works. Guests will even have the opportunity to meet the artist himself, who will be visiting Poland for the first time since 1945, to participate in the opening of the exhibition.
The exhibit is retrospective – it includes all of the most important works of Marber: those created for magazines ("The Economist", "New Society", "The Observer Magazine", "Queen Magazine"), book covers for the Penguin and Pelican Publishing companies, film animations and many more works by the prominent graphic designer, e.g. posters, commercials, maps, logos and typography.
