Franciszek Starowieyski, SKETCHES, 1990s

21.00 x 29.60 cm - pencil, paper
Double-sided drawing
lower right: stamp with a facsimile of the signature and the inscription in the border: From the drawings of Franciszek Starowieyski

Franciszek Starowieyski (Bratkówka near Krosno, July 8, 1930 – Warsaw, February 23, 2009), who used the pseudonym Jan Byk, studied from 1949 to 1952 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków under Prof. Wojciech Weiss, after which he continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, graduating in 1955 from Prof. Michał Bylina’s studio. In the 1960s and 1970s, he gained the greatest recognition as a poster artist, quickly rising to the level of the leading figures in this field of art in Poland. He created original posters with a recognizable style based on sweeping yet calligraphic lines and, above all, surprising, surrealistic associations. From 1964, he served as the art director of the popular monthly magazine *Ty i Ja*. Over time, “pure” drawing came to dominate his work; from 1980 onward, it was often presented in the form of dynamic performances known as the “Theater of Drawing,” featuring models, the audience, and the artist himself, who fulfilled the role of a demiurge. He created numerous paintings and drawings that exuded a surreal atmosphere of life on the brink of physical disintegration, serving as a contemporary interpretation of the vanitas theme. Fascinated by Baroque culture, the artist backdated all his works by 300 years starting in 1970. The artist was the recipient of numerous awards, which he won at exhibitions such as the 1973 São Paulo Art Biennial, the 1974 International Film Poster Exhibition in Cannes, and the 1978 “Annual Key Award” in Los Angeles. He visited New York on numerous occasions at the invitation of the Kosciuszko Foundation. In 1980, he was a professor at the Berlin University of the Arts, and in the 1990s, he lectured at the European Academy of Arts in Warsaw.