MICHAEL SLIWIAK, Astrolabe from a fir tree (illustrations by JERZY SKARŻYŃSKI)

Poem on Nicolaus Copernicus, Cracow 1953, Wydawnictwo Literackie, pp. 52, form. 12.5 x 17.5, cardboard binding, pieces in very good condition. Editor Leszek Herdegen, numerous illustrations by Jerzy Skarżyński.

Jerzy Skarżyński was a painter, set designer and poster designer; together with his wife he created the set and costumes for, among others, Wojciech Has' films "Lalka" and "Pamiętnik znaleziony w Saragossie". During the occupation, he was associated with a group of young visual artists and Tadeusz Kantor's underground theater. In the decade 1948-58 he was a stage designer at the "Groteska Theater" in Cracow, together with Maria Jarema and Kazimierz Mikulski he had a significant influence on the style of this theater. Together with his wife, they also designed scenery for opera productions, including Krzysztof Penderecki (Hamburg, 1969), Giuseppe Verdi's "Masked Ball" (Warsaw, 1977). He was one of the few artists in Poland at that time to reach for the comic strip. "Janosik" was first published in six parts in 1974. He is the creator of a huge number of book illustrations, as well as press illustrations. He collaborated with the weekly magazine "Przekrój." In the 1950s, he illustrated, among other things, a series of novels by Alexandre Dumas, The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years Later and The Viscount de Bragelonne, published by the "Iskry" Publishing House.