Wilhelm (Wilk) OSSECKI, KRZESANICA

Color linocut, paper, 77 x 29 cm, signed in pencil d.: Kraków r. 26, 192/200, [illegible].

Graphic artist, painter and pedagogue, born in Brody near Lviv. Until 1918 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow under Jozef Pankiewicz and Wojcech Weiss. At the same time he studied philosophy at the Jagiellonian University. In 1920, he established cooperation with the Polish Commissariat for the plebiscite in Upper Silesia, led agitation and made posters and leaflets, and belonged to the Upper Silesian Club in Bytom. At the end of 1920, he settled in Poznan. He visited Paris and traveled around France. During the occupation, he stayed in Wilanów, and after the war, as a teacher, he worked in Piastow near Warsaw, and then at the High School of Fine Arts in Bialystok, and the High School of Fine Arts in Warsaw. The artist was a member of the Poznan ZZPAP (1921-1934), and from 1950 belonged to the ZPAP. His paintings were mainly landscapes, portraits, nudes and still lifes. As a printmaker, he practiced woodcut and metal techniques, repeatedly achieving masterful results. He was most keen on the subject of historic architecture, and published several graphic volumes, including: "Znin County", "Vilnius", "Old Poznań", "Monuments of Toruń", "From the Polish souvenirs of Paris". He is the author of posters and exlibrises. The artist took part in numerous group exhibitions, including a traveling exhibition of contemporary Polish graphics in several European capitals organized in 1920 on the initiative of Wladyslaw Skoczylas, exhibited in Warsaw, Poznan, Lodz, Krakow, Lvov, Bydgoszcz, abroad in Florence, Padua and in 1934 at the 18th Venice Biennale.