Józef Szajna – Beach

unframed size: 29,5x42 cm

medium: drawing - ink

date: 1991

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Józef Szajna

JÓZEF SZAJNA (1922-2008) One of the most outstanding artists of the theatre and art worlds. A painter, stage-designer, director, theoretician of theatre, the creator of his entirely own authorial spectacles, a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts [ASP] in Warsaw. It was he whom the critics of the Art Biennial in Brazilian Sao Paulo dubbed one of the five greatest artists of the 20th century. A participant of anti-Fascist fights, arrested and imprisoned in the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. A member of the Anti-Nazi Resistance Movement of the National Army (ZKZ AK) in 1939-1945.

Born in Rzeszów, Poland, on 13 March 1922, died 24 June 2008 in Warsaw. Diploma in graphic arts 1952; diploma in stage design, Academy of Fine Arts [ASP] in Cracow (Kraków) 1953; stage of the Ludowy Theatre, Nowa Huta 1955 - 63; general director, performance director the Ludowy Theatre, Nowa Huta 1963-66; performance director; the STARY Theatre, Cracow 1966-71; the POLSKI Theatre, Warsaw 1970-71; founder, gen. director, performance director, stage designer the STUDIO Art Centre, Theatre-Gallery, Warsaw 1971-82. As soon as at the time of the Ludowy Theatre in Nowa Huta did Józef Szajna join a gallery with theatre, avant-garde visual activities and exhibitions with artistic actions - all in the same venue. He expanded this programme in Warsaw in his own-created Studio Art Centre, Theatre-Gallery, the activity of which comprised presentations and cultural exchange with abroad in the field of the latest art: exhibitions, concerts, film shows, performances, meetings, and workshops. The STUDIO Centre launched a collection of contemporary art, it accommodated the Post-Graduate Studium of Stage Design of ASP, teaching Polish and foreign students under the supervision of Professor Józef Szajna, and the Society of Contemporary Music. Here, a book collection with a reading room was initiated here, along with the Institute of Artistic Creation.

His works have been shown in practically all Polish cities and towns and during a long series of foreign exhibitions and performances. Szajna’s very broad co-operation with theatres and galleries comprised: Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Yugoslavia, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, and Venezuela.

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