Jerzy Nowosielski

The Polish painter Jerzy Nowosielski was born in Krakow on January 7, 1923. Through his father, he belongs to the Lemkos tribe, whose Greek Catholic rites, his conversion to the Orthodox faith and acquaintance with traditional icon painting were to shape Jerzy Nowosielski's art. Jerzy Nowosielski is one of the most important artists in Poland in the 20th century, his work includes important religious frescoes, iconostases and polychromies for Orthodox churches, for example in Landsberg, Wroclaw, Grodek, Lublin or Warsaw. In addition, Jerzy Nowosielski created portraits, landscapes, still lifes and abstract paintings in which he transposed the two-dimensional structure of traditional icon painting into secular themes. Colorful, two-dimensional painting with secular and religious themes. Jerzy Nowosielski began studying at the State School of Applied Arts in Krakow in 1940. In 1942/43 he trained as an icon painter in Lviv. 1945-1947 he studies again in Krakow at the Academy of Fine Arts under Eugeniusz Eibisch. In 1948 Jerzy Nowosielski can show early paintings, which he paints in the style of geometric abstraction, at the First Exhibition of Modern Art in Krakow. In 1950 Jerzy Nowosielski moves to Lodz with his wife Zofia, both earn their living in the field of theater, she as a stage designer at the Harlequin Puppet Theater, Jerzy Nowosielski becomes artistic director at the State Directorate of Puppet Theater. Important Polish painter of the 20th century. Jerzy Nowosielski's first solo exhibition was held in 1955, immediately after which he represented Poland at the 1956 Venice Biennale. In 1957 Jerzy Nowosielski became a lecturer at the State College of Fine Arts in Lodz, where he first taught decorative fabric design, then painting. In 1959 he took part in the Biennale in Sao Paulo. From 1962 Jerzy Nowosielski lives again in his hometown Krakow. In 1976 he becomes a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow and a member of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, he is a member of the "Young Artists Group" as well as the "Grupa Krakowska". 1992-1997 Jerzy Nowosielski, together with the architect Bogdan Kotarba, designs the small Greek Catholic Church of the Nativity of the Holy Mother of God in Bialy Bór, which he plans and decorates down to the smallest detail with colorful religious paintings. In 1993 the Muzeum Narodowe in Poznan shows the first retrospective of Jerzy Nowosielski's work, followed by retrospective exhibitions in the National Art Gallery Zacheta in Warsaw in 1994 and 2003. Jerzy Nowosielski died in Krakow on February 26, 2001.