Olgierd Truszynski (1931-2020), LYING, 1977/1995

bronze, length: 56 cm, width: 23.5 cm, height: 23 cm
sculpture with an interchangeable module

Olgierd Truszyński studied at the State Higher School of Fine Arts in Poznań since 1950.
In 1955 he moved to Warsaw and continued his studies at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. In 1956 he received his diploma in the studio of Prof. Marian Wnuk.

At first he created figurative sculptures - synthetically framed figures of "Circus Men", "Jugglers", "Dancers". In the 1960s, he began to combine figuration with abstraction ("e.g., "Alleged," 1967; "Conversation," 1967; "Womanton flying I," 1969). The following decades saw the creation of purely abstract compositions with metaphorical content ("Adoration," 1974; series: "Gates," "Stairs"). He worked in a variety of materials (bronze, plaster, wood, ceramics), making objects of various sizes (from three-meter-high sculptures to small formats, such as "Mycenae III", 1987, 21 cm).

The sculpture on display is part of a search combining abstract composition with figurative motifs. In the 1970s, Truszynski titled some of his works, clearly indicating action or permanence: "Crawling" (1972), "Standing" (1974), "Kobieton giving birth" (1970), "Kobieton lasting" (1971) "Kobieton celebrating" (1972). In 1973, the artist explained: "My attitude to reality, however, is affirmative [...]. Sure, reality brings with it impossible and tragic things, but I want, after all, to the extent of my ordinary abilities, to record and process things that arouse my admiration: permanence, and at the same time movement, action. I try to arrive in my sculpture at a sign, a symbol, which, while showing little, is nevertheless able to convey the inner reasons for these actions."

After almost two decades, the sculptor returned to "Lying", replacing the clearly modeled human figure with an abstract form, bending only to resemble a human silhouette ("Lying / later/", 1995).

The artist has had many solo exhibitions, and has also participated in numerous group exhibitions, both at home and abroad. In 1964, at an international plein-air workshop in Sankt Margarethen, Austria, he realized the sculpture "Sign of Culture (Contrasts)." In 1998, the Polish Sculpture Center in Oronsko published a monograph of Truszynski's work (L. Wilkowa, J. Wasilewska-Dobkowska, Olgierd Truszynski, Series: Monographs of Polish Sculptors, Orońsko 1998).