Dimensions: 67 x 56 cm
signed, dated and described on the reverse: '"GARNITUR" | 67 1/2 x 56 1/2 | 1959 | T. BRZOZOWSKI' and mounting note
on the reverse stickers: Desa Foreign Trade Enterprise, Confrontations 1960 and Gres Gallery in Chicago
Origins
Gres Gallery, Chicago
institutional collection, Poland
Exhibited
"Poolse schilderkunst van nu," Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 2.10-2.11.1959
"Polsk maleri", Frederiksberg Raadhus, Copenhagen, 14.11-3.12.1959
"Contemporary Polish Painting and Sculpture," Gres Gallery, Washington, May 1961
Literature
Tadeusz Brzozowski 1918-1987, [ed.] Anna Żakiewicz, exhibition catalog, National Museum in Warsaw, Warsaw 1997, p. 227, cat. no. 92
Biography
Studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow from 1936, continuing his studies at the Kunstgewerbeschule, established in place of the Academy, from 1940-1942. During the occupation, he was associated with Tadeusz Kantor's Underground Theater - he played in Balladina (1943) and the leading role in The Return of Odysseus (1944). During this period he was also involved in art conservation, which proved fruitful for his own painting technique in the future. In 1945 he finally graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow. Until 1948, he exhibited with the Young Visual Artists Group, participating in the most important exhibitions of the young art movement, until the authorities imposed Socialist Realism as the prevailing style of painting. In 1954 he moved to Zakopane, where he began teaching at the Kenar School. During this period, he became a virtuoso of painting technique in the course of independent trials and experiences. Color, texture, the play of glazing and values, all the "alchemy" he used in his paintings made up the unique phenomenon of abstract painting, which was capable of "telling" with its very form. In 1955, he returned to participating in exhibitions, participating in numerous shows in Poland and abroad, also holding many solo exhibitions.
