Henryk Musiałowicz, EPITAFIUM, 1980-82

65.5 x 54.5cm - own technique, plate signed p.g.: MUSIAŁOWICZ, on lower frame strip: MUSIAŁOWICZ

On the reverse on the panel in blue crayon: EPITAPH | 1980/1982
[on earlier title: FROM THE CYCLE | PORTRET Z WYOBRAŹNI | 1980] | [in black crayon]: MUSIAŁOWICZ, below dedication in blue crayon: FRIEND | PAUL VAN DINTEREN | MUSIALOWICZ | 2002

♣ to the price auctioned, in addition to other costs, a fee will be added, resulting from the right of the creator and his heirs to receive remuneration in accordance with the Act of February 4, 1994 - on Copyright and Related Rights (droit de suite)

Henryk Musiałowicz (Gniezno 5 I 1914 - Warsaw 24 II 2015) studied at the State School of Decorative Arts and Artistic Industry in Poznań from 1930. In 1936, he obtained a diploma from the Department of Decorative Painting and Stained Glass. In 1937 he took up painting studies at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts under Felicjan Kowarski and Leonard Pękalski (he received his diploma under the former in 1947). He spent the years of occupation in Warsaw, continuing his artistic work (he made ex-librises, among other things, during this time). He cooperated with the Information Department of the Government Delegation for Poland. Since 1940, he was associated with a group of graduates of the Warsaw academy, active during the occupation years in the so-called Bacciarellowka on the grounds of the Royal Castle, and after the war known as the "Warsaw" group. In Musiałowicz's art, especially immediately after the war, there were strong themes related to martyrdom, the tragedy of the Warsaw Uprising, the destruction of Warsaw, whose ruins he commemorated in a series of drawings from 1945-1946. Looking for a form suitable for wartime experiences, he found it in the art of the Dutch, especially Rembrandt, whose work he became acquainted with during a trip in 1956. From then on, his paintings were permanently dominated by dark colors, calm, sometimes hieratic composition of forms merely suggesting human figures, rich texture and glossy surfaces. With time, the artist began to construct spatial forms from wood, as usual covered with a rich layer of painting, in elongated standing shapes. Musialowicz was an active member of ZPAP until 1983. He was a member of international art organizations, including several Italian ones, such as Accademia Tibertina in Rome (since 1965), Accademia Italiana delle Arti e del Lavoro in Parma (since 1979), Accademia Europea, Calvatone (since 1985). In 2002, a major retrospective of his work was organized by the National Museum in Poznan.