Waldemar Swierzy, WITHOUT TITLE, 2004

30.30 x 30.30 cm - tempera, bisque
diameter: 30.3 cm
signature p.d.: SWIERZY

Waldemar Swierzy (Katowice, September 9, 1931-Warsaw, November 27, 2013)-graduated in 1952 from the Faculty of Graphics of the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow - branch in Katowice. Since 1952 he worked as a poster designer for, among others, the Film Rental Headquarters, Art and Graphic Publishers, numerous theaters throughout the country. Since 1975 he has worked with PIW, designing covers and illustrations. Since 1965 he has taught at the State Higher School of Fine Arts (since 1996 the Academy of Fine Arts) in Poznań, obtaining successive academic degrees there, up to professor (1987). From 1994 to 2001 he was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. He also taught as a guest lecturer at foreign universities: in Havana (1970), Mexico (1979-1980), West Berlin (1985-1986), Kassel (1989-1990). Since 1966 he has been a member of AGI (Alliance Graphik International). He is among the co-founders of the phenomenon of the "Polish school of poster design", presenting from the beginning an individual style based on painterly means, full of momentum and color. In the late 1960s, he introduced motifs based on the "psychedelic" style of art of hippies and circles associated with them into his works. In the mid-1970s he began to create a series of "portrait" posters, showing a large-scale image of the artist (visual artist, musician, film star) to whom the poster was dedicated. In this way he created a gallery of leading figures of Polish cultural life of the last thirty years. His posters were presented at many individual and group exhibitions. He has won numerous awards, including the WAG Award named after. Tadeusz Trepkowski (1956), Prix Toulouse-Lautrec, Versailles (1959, 1962), gold medal at the Sao Paulo Art Biennale (1969), 1st prize of the Hollywood Reporter magazine (1975, 1985), silver (1972) and gold (1976) medal at the International Poster Biennale in Warsaw, gold medal at the International Poster Biennale in Lahti (1977), numerous awards at the Polish Poster Biennale in Katowice (1965, 1971, 1975,1977, 1987, 1989).