Ben Uri Research Unit

for the study and digital recording of the Jewish, Refugee and wide Immigrant contribution to British visual culture since 1900.


Adam Bunsch artist

Adam Bunsch was born in Krakow, Grand Duchy of Krakow, Austria-Hungary (now Poland) in 1896. A painter, writer, and stage designer, he served in both world wars before escaping to Britain in 1940 with General Maczek’s 10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade and resumed his artistic career under the pseudonym Andrzej Wart. Bunsch exhibited widely across the UK, gaining critical praise for his evocative portraits, military scenes, and stained-glass designs created during the war.

Born: 1896 Krakow, Austria-Hungary

Died: 1969 Krakow, Poland

Year of Migration to the UK: 1940

Other name/s: Andrzej Wart


Biography

Artist Adam Bunsch was born in Krakow, Grand Duchy of Krakow, Austria-Hungary (now Poland) on 20 December 1896. Brought up in a culturally vibrant family, he was the son of Alojzy Bunsch, a professor at the Higher Industrial School, and brother to future historical novelist, Karol Bunsch. During the First World War, the family briefly relocated to Vienna, where Bunsch began studies in philosophy and fine arts. In 1915, he joined the Austrian army, serving in administrative roles that allowed him to continue his education at Krakow’s Academy of Fine Arts and at the Jagiellonian University. After Poland’s independence in 1918, Bunsch served in the Polish-Ukrainian and Polish-Bolshevik wars, earning multiple military honours. These early experiences deeply influenced his art, which often reflected on human suffering and the fragility of life. Completing his studies in 1921, he moved to Bielsko (now Bielsko-Biała), where he taught mathematics and art, while developing a reputation for coloured woodcuts, strongly influenced by Japanese aesthetics. His work frequently featured animals, plants, and landscapes with symbolic and decorative overtones. Bunsch also wrote for the stage: his first play, Koń Parowy, premiered in 1933 at the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Krakow, with later productions at the Reduta Theatre. He was active in Krakow’s intellectual scene, co-founding the theatrical fraternity ‘Konfraternia Teatralna’ and publishing plays and critical essays.

With the invasion of Poland by Germany in 1939, Bunsch was mobilised, serving briefly in a military communication unit before fleeing to Hungary and subsequently joining the Polish Armed Forces in France. After the Fall of France, he escaped to Britain, becoming part of General Stanisław Maczek’s 10th Armored Cavalry Brigade. In the UK, his artistic career flourished under the pseudonym Andrzej Wart. Bunsch, notably, designed the distinctive emblem of Maczek's brigade and produced numerous works depicting religious themes and scenes of military life.

His artwork received considerable recognition in the UK, featuring prominently in exhibitions arranged by Polish émigré organisations and British cultural institutions, including the 1940 exhibition of Polish soldier-artists in Dunfermline and the 115th Annual Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh, to which he contributed an ‘accomplished portrait’ titled Trooper of Black Brigade (The Scotsman 1941). From 1941-42 he participated in the travelling exhibition, The Art of Five Polish Soldiers, alongside Aleksander Żyw, Zygmunt Haupt, Antoni Wasilewski, and Stanisław Mikula. Organised by the Polish government’s Ministry of Information, this showcase toured across Britain, to venues including the Usher Gallery in Lincoln, Williamson Art Gallery in Birkenhead, Bluecoat Chambers in Liverpool, and the Municipal Museum in Belfast. Critics consistently praised the emotional resonance, spontaneity, and technical confidence of Bunsch’s work. The Liverpool Daily Post noted that his portraits and crayon sketches ‘were full of life and colour’ (Liverpool Daily Post 1942, p. 4). In Belfast, his stained-glass designs for the Church of Our Lady of Częstochowa and St. Casimir on Devonia Road, London were described as ‘magnificent in their suggestion of the source of strength behind the sufferings of Poland’s people’ (Belfast News-Letter 1942, p. 2). The Lincolnshire Echo highlighted Bunsch's versatility, drawing attention to these symbolic designs—such as The Woman of Poland Bearing the Cross of Oppression and Polish Soldier Receiving the Flag from St. Veronica—which were interpreted as deeply patriotic visual allegories. After the tour, the designs were realised in the church, which became a spiritual landmark for the Polish émigré community. In 1944, Bunsch’s work featured in a later iteration at Rochdale Art Gallery, where his portrait Polish Gunner II was singled out by the Rochdale Observer as ‘splendid […] notable and vigorous’, while the exhibition as a whole was praised as a ‘stimulating reminder that war cannot conquer art’ (Rochdale Observer 1944, p. 4). Bunsch also received commissions to produce artworks for British royalty, and several of his wartime drawings and portraits are now held by the Royal Collection Trust.

After returning to Poland in December 1945, Bunsch came under scrutiny from the communist regime due to his service with Western forces. Despite political pressures, he remained prolific, focusing on religious art. He created numerous stained-glass windows and polychromes for churches across Silesia and southern Poland, including major commissions for Katowice’s Mariacki Church. These works are notable for their symbolism and emotional depth, often engaging with themes of personal and national trauma. His later style combined realism with expressive intensity, reflecting on war, peace, and the human condition. More widely, Bunsch exhibited at the 1939 New York World's Fair in the USA. Also active as a writer, Bunsch authored plays and essays that explored complex emotions, social tensions, and historical themes, contributing to Poland’s interwar theatrical life. Adam Bunsch died in Kraków, Poland on 15 May 1969. In the UK public domain, his works are held by Bradford Museums and Galleries and the Royal Collection Trust.

Related books

  • Mirosław Adam Supruniuk, ''Permanence and Liquidity.” Polish Art in Great Britain in the 20th Century – Introduction to a Description’, Archives Emigration, Vol. 3, 2023, pp. 311–366
  • Jadwiga Kowalska, ‘Adam Bunsch – artysta w mundurze’, in Politycy i artyści: materiały XXXVIII Sesji Stałej Konferencji Muzeów, Archiwów i Bibliotek Polskich na Zachodzie: Londyn, Polski Ośrodek Społeczno-Kulturalny, 14–18 września 2016 (2017)
  • Charles S. Kraszewski, 'Our God's Other Brother: Karol Wojtyla, Adam Bunsch and Saint Brother Albert on Stage', The Polish Review Vol. 47, No. 3 (2002), University of Illinois Press, pp. 255-279
  • Adam Bunsch (1896–1969): wystawa malarstwa i grafiki (Kraków: Antykwa, 2000)
  • Adam Bunsch (1896–1969): drzeworyt barwny (Warszawa: Muzeum Łowiectwa i Jeździectwa, 1994)
  • Teresa Dudek-Bujarek, Adam Bunsch, 1896-1969 (Bielsko-Biała: Muzeum Okręgowe w Bielsku-Białej, 1992)
  • Adam Bunsch (1896-1969): wystawa retrospektywna (Lublin: Muzeum Okręgowe, 1987)
  • Adam Bunsch: wystawa malarstwa (Kraków: Związek Polskich Artystów Plastyków, 1958)
  • ‘War Through Polish Eyes’, Rochdale Observer, 26 August 1944, p. 4
  • ‘Polish Soldier Artists’, Western Morning News, 9 September 1943, p. 2
  • ‘Polish Painters’, Liverpool Daily Post, 9 March 1943, p. 2
  • ‘Polish Soldier’s Art’, Liverpool Daily Post, 7 December 1942, p. 4
  • ‘Polish Art in Ulster’, Belfast News-Letter, 22 August 1942, p. 2
  • ‘Polish Art’, Nottingham Journal, 21 July 1942, p. 2
  • ‘Bradford Art Exhibition’, Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 20 March 1942, p. 6
  • ‘Polish Genius in Lincoln Gallery’, Lincolnshire Echo, 19 January 1942, p. 3
  • ‘Royal Scottish Academy’, The Scotsman, 16 May 1941, p. 7

Public collections

Related organisations

  • Academy of Fine Arts, Krakow (student)
  • Jagiellonian University, Krakow (student)
  • University of Vienna (student)

Related web links

Selected exhibitions

  • Adam Bunsch, Zacheta, Warsaw, Poland (1963)
  • Polish Soldier-Artists Exhibition, Rochdale Art Gallery, Lancashire (1944)
  • The Art of Five Polish Soldiers (touring exhibition), Usher Gallery, Lincoln; Williamson Art Gallery, Birkenhead; Bluecoat Chambers, Liverpool; Municipal Museum, Belfast (1941–43)
  • 49th Spring Exhibition, Cartwright Memorial Hall, Bradford, Yorkshire (1942)
  • Allied Artists Exhibition organised by CEMA (touring to venues including National Museum of Wales; Manchester City Art Gallery) (1942)
  • 115th Annual Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, Scotland (1941)
  • Exhibition of Polish Soldier-Artists, Dunfermline, Scotland (1940)
  Adam Bunsch
   
Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Adam Bunsch]

Ben Uri library

Publications related to [Adam Bunsch] in the Ben Uri Library