Rutu Modan and Regina driving down a Warsaw street

The acclaimed comic book artist Rutu Modan has donated a signed board from her graphic novel The Property to the museum. It is an artistic print of page 48 of the book: one of the characters, Regina, who has come to Poland from Israel after many years, is going to visit her pre-war home in Warsaw. The sight of the modern city from the car window sparks memories of her life there before World War II.

The Property was published by Drawn and Quarterly in 2013 (Polish edition: Kultura Gniewu, transl. Zuzanna Solakiewicz). The author perversely builds the story around the contentious issue of Polish-Jewish property. This theme, however, as it turns out, is intertwined with a love story. The feelings lurking in the background of reclaiming a house bring to light the whole complexity – one is tempted to say “multistory” nature – of the situation.  

The book has received several prizes including the Will Eisner Comic Industry Award in the Best Graphic Album category.