An exhibition entitled Helena Modrzejewska: For the Love of Art is now on at the Warsaw Theater Museum. All sorts of memorabilia connected with Modrzejewska, Poland's most famous actress and a star of the 19th century American stage, are on display. The exhibition was organized to mark the centenary of her death.

More than 300 items connected with Modrzejewska, including photographs, pictures and prints of the artist and some of her designs, drawings and costumes, are being exhibited. Documents, theater posters and personal keepsakes are also on display.

Some of the items come from the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California, and are being presented to the Polish public for the first time. There are also many Polish items that Modrzejewska brought with her from her home country among the almost 100 souvenirs documenting her life in the United States.

Modrzejewska was born in Cracow in 1840 and died in Newport Beach, California, in 1909. She made her debut in Bochnia, near Cracow, in 1861, as a member of an amateur troupe of traveling players. She married in 1868 and moved to Warsaw. Modrzejewska emigrated to the United States in 1876. She played around 260 roles during her career, including 35 in English. Her most famous roles included the Shakespearean heroines Ophelia, Juliet and Lady Macbeth as well as Mary Stuart and The Lady of the Camellias.

Until Jan. 10, Warsaw Theater Museum
1 Teatralny Sq., Warsaw
tel. (22) 692-02-11, 692-07-56