Dimensions: 27 x 21.5 cm
signed, dated, and inscribed on the reverse: 'ZBYSZKOWI | ŚWIDZIŃSKIEMU | MUSIAŁOWICZ | 1990'
Biography
In 1939, he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, where he studied under Feliks Szczęsny Kowarski and Leonard Pękalski. He was a member of the “Warszawa” group. A painter, printmaker, and draftsman not affiliated with any group or artistic movement.
The artist’s early works were devoted to his wartime experiences and the destruction of Warsaw. A shift in his painting style occurred after Musiałowicz’s trip to the Netherlands in 1956–1957. Influenced by the late works of Rembrandt and van Gogh, he returned to drawing, as this medium, as the artist emphasized, allowed him to capture reality directly. White and black also began to dominate his work. The artist undertook another important journey, this time to France, in 1957.
In the 1940s and 1950s, he created abstract, monochromatic, and expressive compositions that often evoked the atmosphere of war and occupation. Notable series include “Occupation” (1939–1945), “Portraits from the Imagination” (1957–72), and “War Against Man” (1959–1964). It was then that critics began to appreciate the original qualities of the artist’s painting, such as its individual form and its richness in expression and emotion.
In the 1950s, a stylistic framework emerged to which the artist remained faithful over the following decades. The human silhouette became the central compositional element, serving as a symbolic sign. It was around this silhouette that the artist created numerous ornaments with a thick, sensual texture. Often, the works emerging from the artist’s studio took on an almost relief-like or semi-relief character. In some pieces, one can see inlays of gold or silver filings, which the artist blended into the paint layer.
In the 1970s, Henryk Musiałowicz turned his attention to nature. It was then that he created series such as “Animalistic Landscape” and “The Birth of the Earth.” He also produced series devoted to existential themes, such as “Reminiscences,” “Family,” and “Epitaph.” Toward the end of his career, an increasing number of spatial compositions emerged, which the artist created by combining numerous separate elements. Often intensely polychromed, they resembled impressive totems.
The artist has participated in over 100 solo exhibitions and 250 group exhibitions in Poland and abroad. His works have been presented to the public in cities such as Geneva, Paris, New York, London, Rome, and Toronto. For his artistic achievements, he received numerous awards, such as the “Gloria Artist” Medal for Merit to Culture and the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. In 2002, a retrospective exhibition was held at the National Museum in Poznań.
