Brunon PODJASKI (1915-1988), "Martian Invasion of the Bukowiec Sanatorium," 1975.

oil, canvas, 37.5 x 52 cm,
Signed p.d.: Br. Podjaski / 1975.
On the back printed sticker: Keller Galerie / Marianne Kühn / Roteichenweg 5 / 5 Köln 80 (Dellbrück) / Telephone (0221) 68 83 38; sticker with typed text: Brunon Podjaski / Mars-Invasion in Bukowiec / 1975 Ol auf Lw. / 36 x 50 cm; DESA stamp with information about export abroad from 1977. Sticker with biography of the artist in German.
Presented painting titled "Mars-Invasion in Bucovice (!)". reproduced in: "Die Sammlung Marianne Kühn - Naive Kunst," catalog Vestisches Museum Recklinghausen, 2003, il. MK 114, p. 259.

Primitivist painter, born in Linowiec near Stargard Gdański. Graduated from 5 classes of elementary school, trained as a tiler, worked as a gardener on a landed estate. After being assigned to the 64th Regiment of the 16th Infantry Division in Grudziądz, he took part in the battles near Bzura. Taken prisoner, he escaped and returned home. In 1941 he was conscripted into the German army, fought in France, was sent to the Eastern Front, deserted and surrendered to Soviet captivity. He probably contracted pulmonary tuberculosis at a power plant in Zaporozhye. In 1949 he was sent to the Bukowiec sanatorium in Kowary, cured he remained there and worked as a gardener, during which time he began painting. He spent 30 years in Kowary. There he met and befriended the artist Jerzy Gielniak, who significantly influenced his work. After Gielniak's death in 1972, Podjaski painted a moving series of paintings with death as a theme. In 1977 he moved to Lublin, where he died in 1988. The artist initially painted his paintings in watercolor, with time he became interested in oil technique. Paintings from the "Bukovina" period are considered the most interesting in his creative output. The artist took part in exhibitions of non-professional art, in 1971 Wroclaw's WDK prepared his individual exhibition, in 2007 in BWA in Jelenia Gora there was an exhibition "Brunon Podjaski", and a year earlier such an exhibition was organized by the Association of Kowary Lovers.