Jozef GIELNIAK (1932 - 1972), In Tribute to My Friend Z.G. (Zygmunt Gorka)

Zincotype (made in the 1970s on the basis of the original linocut), paper 17 x 24 cm in light passe - partout
Jozef Gielniak - in 1945-46 studied at the Ècole des Beaux-Arts in Valenciennes. He came to Poland in 1950 with the intention of preparing for work in diplomacy. A sudden attack of tuberculosis thwarted these plans, as did the realization of his next idea - to study at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun. Gielniak spent almost all of his creative life in the tuberculosis sanatorium Bukowiec near Kowary, where he also took a job as an archivist. Beginning in 1956, he studied on an individual basis with the well-known graphic artist Professor Stanislaw Dawski of the State Higher School of Fine Arts in Wroclaw. He created almost exclusively linocuts, sometimes, when his health allowed, he also made mezzotints; he left behind only 68 works, including 15 ex-librises. Despite such a negligible volume of work, he is considered one of the most outstanding contemporary Polish printmakers.