1945
Symcho returns to Lodz to find that almost his entire family has been killed by the Nazis. Only his sister Teresa has escaped. In an effort to emigrate to Palestine, where he believes Teresa is living, he illegally enters Austria and is detained once again and placed in a Displaced Persons Camp.

1947
Teresa, who had escaped to Sweden, locates Symcho through letters and begins a campaign to get him released. She also begins efforts that eventually help him to emigrate to Sweden.

1949
After having spent a year and a half in the DP camp and two years  homeless and wandering, Symcho is reunited with Teresa in Stockholm. With her help he settles there, finds work and enrolls at the Stockholm Academy of Painting.

1951
Symcho devotes himself full time to painting and study. Immersed in the contemporary Art Informel culture, Symcho's work becomes increasingly abstract, enabling him to express deep emotions more effectively than in an academic style.

1954
First trip to Paris where he meets with other abstract painters and makes contacts with several galleries for contemporary art.

1955
Symcho actively pursues his art career and participates frequently in group exhibitions in Stockholm. He supports himself by teaching art at the Skold Pernby Art Academy.

1957

Symcho's first one man show at Galerie St. Nikolaus is a success and garners very favorable reviews. The Swedish Press is unanimous in proclaiming him an important new expressionist voice.

     Some excerpts from reviews: 

• "Moszkowicz shows the ability to read a man's face and to express the history of human suffering. This is painting that comes from inside, art with inner value ..."

• "The effect of the exhibition is unusually refined ... The accusing look you meet in these faces shakes and follows you long after you have left this fascinating show."

1959
Second one man show at Galerie St. Nikolaus. 

          Some excerpts from reviews:

• "Moszkowicz exceeded expectations created by his unusually promising debut ...

•  "

• "His paintings convey a mission to humanity ... "

• "His talent must be recognized ... His art has obvious roots in the bitter experience of the artist."    

Critical acclaim and financial success enable him to return to Paris for an extended stay. While there he prepares for a planned exhibition that is postponed when his sister Teresa, now living in New York, convinces him to visit her and exhibit with the Abstract Expressionists.

1960
After several months in New York, where he finds the art scene too rigid and confining, Symcho returns to Paris and continues to prepare for his next exhibition.

1961
Symcho's first one man show in Paris is a critical, artistic and social success. His new found celebrity enables him to locate there permanently.

     Some excerpts from reviews: 

• "Moszkowicz paints human faces. It is not without reason that they reveal ruined homes, entire towns devastated - like those you may sometimes find in his landscapes. His vision is splendid and tragic: Promethian ... "

• "His people prove their greatness by their moral force, their dignity and pride ... "

• "He combines man and nature to develop eternity ... "

• "He dislikes color effects and anecdote, his choice is different: delicacy of the stroke, inspiration and profound expression maintained by incomparable technique ... All this presented in simple poetic language without one empty phrase."   

1962
One man show at the prestigious Galerie Lambert.  Highly successful both artistically and critically.

1962-1966
Symcho enjoys success and celebrity, moving freely among artistic and literary society. He participates in numerous group exhibitions in Stockholm and Paris and receives wide critical acclaim. His celebrity enables him to play the main role in the allegorical film "Houat." While preparing for a second exhibition at Galerie Lambert he is hospitalized with the complications of long standing and undiagnosed heart condition.

NEXT:  THE ARTIST'S LEGACY