Franciszek Starowieyski (1930-2009), Najady, 2003

Lithograph on paper
Dimensions: w św p-p 23 x 30 cm, 39 x 47 cm (with frame)
Signature: on front, 79/98A 'Najady', 1703 (tied monogram), special edition-Gift of Nature, framed
Certificate of authenticity

Franciszek Starowieyski (pseudonym Jan Byk) Born on July 8, 1930 in Bratkówka near Krosno. He died in 2009 in Warsaw. He came from a noble family, sealing with the Biberstein coat of arms. From 1949 to 1952 he studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow under Wojciech Weiss and Adam Marczyński, and then at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw under Michał Bylina, where he received his diploma in 1955. The artist is considered one of the most prominent representatives of the "Polish school of poster design." His work is combined with the European trend of symbolism and surrealism. The leitmotif of Franciszek Starowieyski's art was the anonymous female nude with Rubensian shapes, presented in hybridized, sometimes mechanized forms. Starowieyski's compositions formally refer to the Baroque and sometimes to Art Nouveau; the painter was also inspired by the work of his favorite writer Samuel Backett. The artist gained popularity as early as the 1960s with a series of theater and film posters, making the poster a separate work of art.

The artist also did theatrical and film sets, and was a painter, draughtsman, printmaker, calligrapher, and collector of art, mainly 17th-century art. He created the Drawing Theater, a several-day happening in which he painted live in front of an audience. His works took part in more than 200 national and international exhibitions. Franciszek Starowieyski was the first Pole to have a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1985.