Jacek Sempoliński, Kamianna (Landscape), 1980

oil, canvas, 81 x 65 cm signed, dated and described on the reverse: Sempoliński/'80/Kamianna/(landscape)

origin: private collection, Warsaw

Jacek Sempoliński (1927, Warsaw - 2012, Warsaw) Painter, draughtsman, educator, critic and essayist. From 1943-1944 he studied painting at the Konrad Krzyzanowski underground school in Warsaw. After the war, he studied painting at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts, including under Eugeniusz Eibisch. He completed his diploma in 1956 and began working at his alma mater.

Initially, in addition to easel painting, he practiced scenography and fresco painting. Among other things, he did polychrome work on tenement houses in the Old and New Towns in Warsaw. Sempoliński was one of the participants in the National Exhibition of Young Visual Arts, popularly known as Arsenal 55, where he won an award. In 1976 he was awarded the Jan Cybis Prize, and in 1986 the Brother Albert Prize. Among his best-known painting series are "Skulls" and "Faces."

During martial law, the artist was associated with the independent culture movement, finding support in the Church. He participated in many exhibitions of this movement, including memorable arrangements by Janusz Bogucki and Nina Smolarz ("Sign of the Cross," Parish on Zytnia Street, Warsaw 1983, "Labyrinth - Underground Space," Church of the Ascension, Warsaw 1989), Marek Rostworowski ("Niebo nowe i ziemia nowa," Parish on Zytnia Street, Warsaw 1985).

In 2002, there was a large retrospective exhibition of his paintings entitled "A Me Stesso" at the Zachęta National Gallery in Warsaw. Works in museum collections include: National Museum in Warsaw, Kielce, Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.