Jerzy Wronowski (1908–1944), A series of watercolors from the occupation period, the 1940s (before August 1944)

Jerzy Wronowski (1908–1944) was a Polish painter associated with the artistic community of Greater Poland and a representative of avant-garde trends in the art of the interwar period. He was born on June 16, 1908, in Łódź, and lived in Kalisz from 1920 onward. In 1932, he graduated from the Department of Decorative Painting at the School of Decorative Arts and Artistic Industry in Poznań. In 1934, under the guidance of Józef Mehoffer, he participated in the creation of the polychrome decoration of the church in Turek.

He was a member of the “Plastyka” Group of Greater Poland Artists, with whom he exhibited, among other places, at the Zachęta in Warsaw. In 1938, his “Self-Portrait,” presented at the annual Zachęta Salon, was honored with the National Culture Fund Award. That same year, the artist created the polychrome decorations in the sanctuary of St. Dorothy’s Church in Opatówek. His body of work also included easel paintings, decorative designs, and functional works, all in the spirit of the modern artistic trends of the era.

After the outbreak of World War II, he was displaced from Kalisz and settled in Kraków. In 1942–1943, he was imprisoned at the castle in Lublin. After his release from prison, he went to Warsaw, where he was killed in August 1944 during the Warsaw Uprising.