Composer, singer, translator; founder of an influential Parisian art gallery.

Career Summary

Born Jan Śliwiński, son of a landscape painter and lithographer, but adopted by a couple Effenberger, he retained the latter name until 1914 then reverted to Śliwiński or Śliwiński-Effenberger. He studied in Berlin and Prague, worked as a journalist, then gained his doctorate with a dissertation on Nikolaus Lenau and music (1908). Between 1908 and 1913, he worked in libraries in Prague and Vienna. He translated poems of Rabindranath Tagore (from English), some of which were set by Alexander Zemlinsky (Lyrische Symphonie, 1922‒23), and others by Walter Lang (Liebesmusik, 1932).

Effenberger moved to Paris in 1922, opening a bookshop, then the art gallery "Au sacre du printemps" in Paris, at 5 rue du Cherche-Midi. There, in addition to several solo-artist shows, in 1928 he mounted the exhibition "Le surréalisme, existe-t-il?", which included works by Max Ernst, André Masson, Joan Miró, Francis Picabia, and Yves Tanguy. (In 1929, the gallery was taken over by Jeanne Bucher.) Effenberger had a large circle of artistic acquaintances, including Adolf Loos, Tristan Tzara, and James Joyce.

In the 1930s, Effenberger taught at the Warsaw Military Academy, and was active as a composer, producer, and translator, collaborating with Szymanowski and Moniuszko. In 1938 he emigrated, living in Scotland during World War II and returning to Warsaw in 1950.

Effenberger is mentioned (by both names) by Hoboken in a letter of March 21, 1928 from Paris to Schenker (OJ 11/54, [23]).