Dimensions: 79 x 97 cm
Signed and dated on the reverse: 'BEKSIŃSKI 71'
Origin:
private collection, Poland
Biography
Zdzislaw Beksinski - born in 1929 in Sanok, photographer, graphic artist, illustrator and painter. He studied at the Faculty of Architecture of the Cracow University of Technology. In the late 1950s he worked as a stylist-artist in the Department of the Chief Constructor of the "Autosan" Factory. He began his artistic activity as a photographer. Success brought him mainly painterly and sculptural works. In the late 1950s and early 1960s he referred to Reiner Maria Rilke's poetry and existential content. After 1964, he broke with the then-popular avant-garde activities and devoted himself almost entirely to painting on the borderline of dark fantasy and surrealism, mixed with his own visions. He also created sculptures in plaster and metal. From the late 1960s to the early 1970s, his work featured Far Eastern motifs. Since the mid-1970s, Beksinski has dealt almost exclusively with oil painting. Works from the 1980s are characterized by the interweaving of Baroque and 19th century motifs with a strong erotic accent. They were referred to as "dream photography." In the 1990s, he began to introduce computer graphics applied to works based on a collection of his own photographs. For several years he was associated with Piotr Dmochowski, an enthusiast of Beksinski's art, who opened an art gallery in France (1989-96) dedicated to the artist's works. The artist died tragically in 2005.
In 1999, the Historical Museum prepared the largest retrospective exhibition of Beksinski at the castle in Sanok. The artist's works are in numerous museums and galleries in Poland, including Sanok (the richest collection of the artist's works), Warsaw, Krakow, Czestochowa and Wroclaw. The only Polish artist whose works have been exhibited at the Japanese Art Museum in Osaka.
Based on the artist's life and works, many excellent books, monographs, catalogs, etc. have been published. In 1964, the first film dedicated to the artist "Fotoplastykon" was made, directed by Piotr Andreev. In 2016, a film directed by Jan Matuszyński "The Last Family" was made, which won many awards, including the Silver Leopard for best actor - Andrzej Seweryn (in the role of Zdzislaw Beksinski) at the 2016 Locarno International Film Festival. In 2017, the documentary "Beksinskis. A Videophone Album" directed by Marcin Borchardt and a short film "Pars Pro Toto" by Katarzyna Lelecka. In addition, there was a performance directed by Jerzy Satanowski "Beksinski. Untitled Image", as well as a dance and music show directed by Agnieszka Glinska - Art. Color Ballet "KRYPTONIM 27". Beksinski's influence extends even to the world of fashion. In 2017, English Vogue published photos from the fall/winter show at London Fashion Week. These included designs by award-winning Polish designer Joanna Berling, whose show was inspired by Beksinski's work.
