Adam MARCZYŃSKI (1908-1985), Networks

Ink (sepia), cream paper, 41 x 33 cm, unsigned. traces of mold.

Adam MARCZYŃSKI (1908-1985). Studied at the Cracow Academy of Fine Arts under Prof. W. Jarocki and St. Pienkowski in 1929-36, where he began teaching in 1945, which he continued until 1979. Before the war he was a member of the Cracow Group, and in 1957 took part in its reactivation. He was a representative of the Krakow avant-garde, and is known as a painter, graphic artist and draughtsman. He also created stage designs and book illustrations. He is considered one of the most important representatives of the Polish avant-garde. Marczyński's early works show influences of Cubism and Colorism. After the war, he created lyrical compositions inspired by the art of Paul Klee and Joan Miro. The next stage of his work was in the 1960s - at that time the artist joined the trend of painting matter, creating three-dimensional collages, works in which he used as a material sheets of wooden plywood or veneer, tar paper, less often sheet metal, additionally subjected to various treatments, such as burning, destroying the surface, etc. In the 1970s he created objects with changeable elements - built from freely juxtaposed "boxes" with tilting lids. Assemblages of this kind became the main domain of his work. Marczynski represented Poland several times at international art festivals. In 1956 he took part in the Venice Art Biennale, and three years later he showed his works both at the Sao Paulo Biennale and Documenta in Kassel. The catalog of his work is summarized in a retrospective posthumous exhibition at the Cracow Art Exhibition Office (1985).