Józef Szajna (1922 Rzeszów - 2008 Warsaw), Mummy, 1985

assemblage, 99 x 70 cm, framed 114 x 84 cm, signed p. d.: 'Szajna 85', on the back: '"MUMMY" 45'' and sticker 'GALERIA STUDIO No. ew III-031''

EXHIBITED:
- solo exhibition, Galerie Dmochowski. Musée-galerie de Beksinski, Paris, 1990

Painter, stage designer, director, theater theoretician, creator of original, innovative productions, professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. It was about him, in 1989 at the Art Biennale in Sao Paulo, Brazil, that critics said he was one of the five greatest artists of the 20th century. A participant in the anti-fascist struggle, he was arrested and was a prisoner in Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps. A member of the anti-Nazi Resistance Movement 1939-1945 (ZWZ AK). In 1952 he received a diploma in graphic design, and a year later also in stage design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow. After graduation, from 1954-1963, he worked as an
pedagogue at his alma mater. Since 1972, he was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, where, among other things, he headed the scenography studio. At the same time, he was active in other fields: in 1955-63 he was a stage designer, and then, until 1966, also director, artistic manager and director of the People's Theater in Nowa Huta. Already at the People's Theater in Nowa Huta, Jozef Szajna combined gallery and theater, avant-garde art activities, exhibitions and artistic actions in one place. He also worked with the Old Theater in Cracow, the Silesian Theater in Katowice, the Contemporary Theater in Wroclaw
or the Polish Theater in Warsaw. In 1971 he created the author's Theater-Gallery at Warsaw's Studio Art Center. Szajna represented Poland at the Venice Biennale (1970 and 1990) and the São Paulo Biennale (1979 and 1989), among others. He achieved worldwide success as a theater artist. He was a member of numerous art associations, and was repeatedly awarded and honored for his achievements at home and abroad.