Press Release
July 15, 2012
Works of Roman Loza – Polish Artist - to Show at Conejo Valley Art Museum
Art was one of the motivating factors that helped Polish artist Roman Loza overcome five years of captivity in a German POW camp during World War II. Watercolors, oil paintings, and pen and pencil drawings he created during those years of imprisonment depict fellow prisoners and the day-to-day camp life he experienced almost 70 years ago.
The Conejo Valley Art Museum located at the Janss Marketplace in Thousand Oaks will be presenting an exhibition of this war-era art. The show will also include other pieces of artwork that Loza created over a 40-year period, during which time he lived in Paris, France and Chicago, Illinois, notably a collection of his renowned scratchboard portraits. The solo art exhibition will open with a reception on July 28 and will run through September.
Roman Loza was born in Plaza, Poland, in 1913. He received his high school education in Brzesko, but despite his strong interest and talent in the field of fine arts, he chose to study at the Academy of Commerce in Krakow.
Between 1937 and 1939, Loza worked as a Polish consular officer in Czechoslovakia and then in Germany, and was awarded the Polish Silver Cross of Merit. While a consular officer, he was taken into custody by German authorities at the start of World War II. He was soon released, but after hearing of Germany’s successful invasion of Poland, he traveled to France and joined the newly formed Polish Army in exile. He fought in the Podhale Rifle Brigade in Narvik, Norway, but in 1940 was ultimately taken prisoner of war while in France.
During his five years of imprisonment at Stalag XIIA in Limburg, Germany, Loza produced over 400 portraits of his fellow prisoners and more than 300 other works. Many of his paintings and drawings were exhibited in art shows held in the prison camp. The oil paintings, which were created for the camp guards, were made in exchange for additional food and painting supplies – the only items of real value in the environment of the camp.
After his release in 1945, Loza moved to Paris, France, where he studied art at l’Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts under Professor Narbonne along with classmate and well-known painter Bernard Buffet. After his graduation he resumed his studies focusing on woodcuts under Professor Konstanty Brandel.
In 1956, Loza married Yvette Jourdan, a French woman he had met in Sicily, Italy. They had one son before immigrating to the United States in 1960. Loza settled in Chicago with his new family and he and his wife welcomed a daughter shortly thereafter. In Chicago, Loza worked as a commercial artist for a local advertising firm while continuing his passion for fine art.
After retiring, Loza continued to focus on his artwork until his death in 1988. During his lifetime, he participated in many art shows in France, Germany, Italy (Sicily), U.S.A., and had been awarded several prizes and distinctions. Roman Loza was a member of the Syndicat National des Peintres Illustrateurs (Paris, France), The Association of Polish Artists in Paris, Les Amis des Arts de Saint-Maur (France), and the Polish Arts Club of Chicago (Illinois).
Loza’s family currently resides in Southern California: his widow, Yvette Jourdan, in Thousand Oaks, his son, Christophe Loza, in Channel Islands Harbor, and his daughter, Isabelle (Loza) Renaud, and granddaughter, Cassandra Gratton, in Simi Valley.