Jerzy Grabowski

Jerzy Grabowski (1933, Gutki near Łomża - 2004) was a graphic artist, painter and draughtsman - one of the most interesting representatives of geometric abstraction in European graphic art of the second half of the 20th century. He studied architecture at the Wrocław University of Technology, and then graphic art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, where in 1962 he defended his diploma in the studio of Professor Józef Mroszczak. From 1976 he ran the Lithography Studio at the Faculty of Painting of the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, and from 1996 he also taught at the European Academy of Arts in Warsaw; he was a member of the international association of woodcutters Xylon and a juror of many prestigious print competitions.

Grabowski's work, counted among geometric abstraction applied with mathematical precision, is based on mathematical structures. Mathematics was for him an essential point of reference - he even subordinated the system of colours to numerical values, and his compositions are built from figures of the same size, differing only in colour. He made use in the process of phenomena of optical illusion, close to op-art. He expressed himself most fully in graphic art: he created abstract linocuts with relief, concave and convex embossing, supplemented with strong accents of colour. In his works there are echoes of the Bauhaus theory of colour - of Johannes Itten, Josef Albers and Max Bill - yet they remain thoroughly original; the motifs of the dualism of nature, of infinity and of the closing of space recur in them (the cycles „Axial Report”, „The Centre of the Axis”, „Inclusions in the Synthesis of Progress”).

Grabowski also played an important role as an animator and promoter of concrete art and op-art in Poland. In the 1960s and 1970s he maintained constant contacts with the artistic milieus of Western Europe, and on his initiative the nationwide exhibition „Colour in Graphic Art” was transformed into the International Print Triennale in Kraków. He had over 40 solo exhibitions and took part in more than 400 group ones in Poland and abroad. Among his most important awards were the Bronze Medal at the 13th Joan Miró International Drawing Competition in Barcelona (1974), the Grand Prix of the 2nd Quadriennial of Polish Woodcut and Linocut in Olsztyn (1979) and the Gold Medal at the 12th Norwegian International Print Triennale in Fredrikstad (1999). Consistent and precise, Grabowski remains one of the most important creators of Polish geometric abstraction - a painter and graphic artist for whom the number was the material of the image.