Wiesław OBRZYDOWSKI (1938-2017), Expressive Portrait

Pastel, suede paper, 80 x 56 cm.
Signed p.d.: "WO' 2002".
On the back stamp.


Wiesław OBRZYDOWSKI (1938-2017)
Studied at the Faculty of Painting of the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow under W. Taranczewski, T. Łakomski and C. Rzepinski. The artist did not fit into the canons of avant-garde explorations of art of the 1960s and 1970s, his work for a long time remained in the shadow of artistic life. The situation changed in the 1980s ? after an exhibition at the National Museum of Art and at the Sopot BWA, he was recognized as a forerunner of "Polish expression" and "a continuator of the figuration of the 1950s." He painted mainly his immediate surroundings, the poor backstreets of Kazimierz, portraits of friends and family, often creating on the back of canvases and stretchers, exposing ugliness and obscenity. Today, the artist's works are in the collections of many Polish art museums, as well as in private collections, both at home and abroad.