Dimensions: 42 x 29.5 cm
signed and dated lower right: 'A. S. Kowalski 63'
Dated and labeled on a board on the reverse: 'RDM 45 | ANDRZEJ S. KOWALSKI | UNTITLED 1963 | GOUACHE 42 x 29.5 cm'
Condition
Work framed
Biography
Painter, printmaker, writer, essayist, journalist, and educator. Professor at the Katowice branch of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. In 1955, he graduated from the Painting Department of the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts, earning diplomas in painting under Adam Marczyński and in graphic arts under Ludwik Gardowski. Member of the Kraków Group, the Zagłębie group, and Arkat. An active participant in the anti-communist opposition. His body of work includes easel painting, murals, mosaics, drawing, and printmaking. Since the late 1950s, his paintings and prints have featured an interplay of organic, free-flowing forms of color patches with a characteristic color palette (browns and yellows, as well as olive greens and grays), arranged with a consistent geometric order. The painter’s intuitive decisions are complemented by a distinct rational element. Over time, he began introducing geometric or figurative motifs into his compositions. In the 1980s, he was strongly associated with the independent culture movement. He exhibited his works both in Poland and abroad. The artist’s works are held in the collections of, among others, the BWA Contemporary Art Gallery in Katowice, the Silesian Museum in Katowice, the Museum of the History of Katowice, the Archdiocesan Museum in Katowice, the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom, and numerous private collections. “The paintings of the young Polish artist Kowalski, composed almost exclusively along a vertical axis, reveal a true master of his craft, gifted with the ability to create extraordinary colors, to evoke a warm yet subtle atmosphere, and distinguished by an endearing restraint… This is sophisticated yet discreet painting that will surely appeal to those who value moderation and appreciate refined yet unpretentious color harmonies…” —wrote Michel Courtois about the exhibition at the Lambert Gallery in the Parisian magazine *Arts 30* (Andrzej S. Kowalski, ed. J. Trzupek, Katowice 2013, p. 41).
