Franciszek Burkiewicz, By the River, 1975
Description
Watercolor on paper, signed lower right with pencil: "Fr. Burkiewicz 1975".
Franciszek Burkiewicz (Berlin 1910 – Poznań 2002) - he studied at the Teachers' Seminary in Poznań (1925-1930) and at the State School of Decorative Arts and the Art Industry in Poznań (1930-1935) under the supervision of Jan Wroniecki and Karol Mondral. In 1936 he moved to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, where he obtained a dissertation under the supervision of Stanisław Ostoja-Chrostowski in 1939; he graduated from the Faculty of Graphic Arts at this university in 1947. He spent the years of World War II in Poznań. At that time, he did not deal with artistic creativity. Shortly after the war, he started teaching at the State Higher School of Fine Arts in Poznań, where he lectured in 1945-1952 and 1958-1959. He also taught at the State Lyceum of Fine Arts in Poznań, where he was the director in 1963-1965. In 1975 he retired. He was the laureate of the Poznan Awards in 1959 and 1965. His achievements include nearly 300 prints (mainly in the woodcut technique) - realistic figural, religious compositions, vedas and landscapes. He also dealt with drawing and painting. From the second half of the 1950s he boldly introduced stylization and simplification of form to his works. From this period come grotesque compositions with "masks", drawing inspiration from the world of theater and circus.