Sarah Lipska, Forgotten Polish Artist of the Roaring Twenties, Revived in Poitiers Exhibition

The Musée Sainte-Croix in Poitiers is hosting a major retrospective of Sarah Lipska (1882–1959), a Polish-born artist who flourished in interwar Paris before falling into obscurity. The exhibition, titled "Sarah Lipska. L'art dans tous ses éclats," runs from April 3 to September 27, 2026. Lipska was a versatile creator: a costume and set designer for theater, a fashion designer who collaborated with Paul Poiret and the Viennese house Myrbor, a decorator, painter, and sculptor. She opened a boutique on the Champs-Élysées in 1924, and her clients included Antoine de Paris, inventor of the bob haircut, and socialites like Helena Rubinstein, Natalie Paley, and Luisa Casati. Lipska developed distinctive embroidery techniques—silver embroidery and appliqué—and designed interiors such as Antoine's "glass house" apartment and the Draeger printing office in Montrouge. She won a gold medal at the 1925 Exposition des Arts Décoratifs and created a glass monument for the 1937 International Exposition. The museum's collection, built over 40 years through acquisitions and a donation from Lipska's daughter, aims to restore her legacy. The exhibition highlights her fusion of Polish folklore, Hebrew culture, and Coptic embroidery motifs, as well as her Art Deco sensibility.