Stefan Gierowski, Untitled, 1968

watercolor, paper, 50 x 32 cm (light passe-partout) signed and dated p.d.: S Gierowski 68

provenance: private collection, Warsaw

Stefan Gierowski (1925, Częstochowa - 2022, Warsaw) Studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow in the studios of Zbigniew Pronaszko and Karol Frycz and at the Department of Art History at the Jagiellonian University. From 1961 to 1997 he was a lecturer at the Faculty of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, and since 1986 a professor at the Academy. He presented his paintings at the famous exhibition at the Arsenal in 1955, and together with Marian Bogusz ran the Krzywe Koło Gallery in Warsaw.

Initially he painted figurative paintings, but from about 1957 he developed a distinctive abstract style based on color explorations. He consistently explored such issues as light, optical illusion and the effect of color combinations.

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Stefan Gierowski exhibited his works abroad many times - he participated in such artistic events as the 1st Youth Biennale in Paris (1959), the 5th International Biennale of Contemporary Art in São Paulo (1959) and 15 Polish Painters at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1961).

Stefan Gierowski had a huge influence on a whole generation of adepts of the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. His students included Jarosław Modzelewski, Marek Sobczyk, Dorota Grynczel and Ryszard Woźniak.

He was a laureate of the Jan Cybis Prize awarded to painters for lifetime achievement (1980) and the Kazimierz Ostrowski Prize for outstanding achievements in painting (2005). In 1997 he was awarded the Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Rebirth of Poland (1997). In 2005 he was awarded the Gold Medal "Meritorious to Culture Gloria Artis" by the Minister of Culture.

Stefan Gierowski's works are in institutional and private collections, including: National Museums in Warsaw, Krakow, Poznan, Wroclaw and Gdansk, Art Museum in Lodz, Leon Wyczółkowski District Museum in Bydgoszcz, Arsenal Gallery in Bialystok, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, CCA Ujazdowski Castle.

In 2017, the headquarters of the Stefan Gierowski Foundation opened on Kredytowa Street, which conducts research and popularization activities by organizing exhibitions not only of its founder and patron, but also of other artists of different generations.