Helena Syrkus through the lens of her correspondence

Abstract

The thesis will elaborate Helena and Szymon Syrkus’ connection with the “Congress of Modern Architecture” (CIAM). It will investigate in what ways the Polish couple has brought Modernist ideas to Poland and put a special emphasis on the work of Helena Syrkus.
The point of focus will lay on how the Helena Syrkus could manage to keep in touch with the most influential architects of the 20th century and how her social skills and fluent knowledge of multiple languages (English, German, French) enabled her to become an influential female architect. She became friends with Walter and Ise Gropius, Cornelis van Eastern, and Frieda Fluck as well as Marcel Breuer, Siegfried Giedion and many others. Her correspondence became an important medium for her work as she shared her career plans and information about her recent projects. Thus, the research question is in a great part inspired by her vast correspondence network, where she reigned unchallenged. In a private letter to her sister, Syrkus makes it apparent that her typewriter was an integral item without which she would only depart for holidays. In any other case, a full-size or pocket typewriter would constantly be at her side. This special relationship that was prominent in Syrkus’ life gave impetus to the research question:
Has Helena Syrkus’ typewriter become a passport of Modernism to Polish architecture?