Stefan Sonnewend (1885 Poznan - 1939 Dubno), "Koscieliska Valley", 1930

Exhibited
Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Sztuk Pięknych, Poznań, 1930s.

Biography
He took his first lessons in drawing and the basics of painting in Vienna and continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow. His teachers were Stanisław Wyspiański, Józef Unierzyski, Jan Stanisławski and Teodor Axentowicz. After completing his studies, he went to Dresden, and after receiving a prize from the Austrian Ministry of Education and a scholarship funded by Princess Maria Lubomirska, he left to continue his studies in Paris and London. He returned to Poznan in 1908 and became involved in cultural activities, and was the organizer of a painting exhibition at the headquarters of the Poznan Society of Friends of Fine Arts, and an exhibition of caricatures of well-known city residents at the Bazar Hotel. When World War I broke out he left for Vienna, there on October 1, 1914 he was recruited into the Polish Legions. He stayed at the front near Kolomyja, and then was transferred to the Delegation of the Supreme National Committee in Vienna. On behalf of the staff of the Commander of the Polish Legions, he was appointed war painter in May 1916 and assigned to the staff of General Stanislaw Puchalski, among others, he brought Julian Falat and Leon Wyczółkowski to the front. In March 1919, he returned to Poznan, and during the Greater Poland Uprising fought on the staff of Gen. Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki. He took part in the Polish-Bolshevik war in the rank of officer. After returning to his hometown, he published Teka Armii Wielkopolskiej (Teka of the Greater Poland Army), and from 1921 to 1926 belonged to the artistic group Świt (Dawn), with which he exhibited his works. In 1926 he founded the Union of Polish Legionaries in Poznań. In 1937 he became president of the Professional Association of Painters and Sculptors, founded in Poznań. In the first days of September 1939 he was seriously wounded and died in Dubna.