Stanislaw Fijalkowski (1922-2020), Angel, 1968

Linocut, dimensions: in pp: 40 x 60 cm, 55.5 x 77.5 cm (with frame)
Handwritten signature: l.d.: Angel, p.d.: S. Fijałkowski 68
Work framed in silver frame, behind glass.

Stanislaw Fijalkowski (Zdolbunov in Volhynia 1922 - Lodz 2020) spent 1944-1945 as a forced laborer in Königsberg. From 1946 to 1951 he studied at the State Higher School of Plastic Arts in Lodz under the direction of Władysław Strzeminski, Stefan Wegner and Ludwik Tyrowicz, from whom he received his diploma.
From 1947 to 1993 he was an educator at his alma mater, and from 1983 a professor. He served as vice-rector and dean of the Faculty of Graphic Arts. He also taught abroad: in Mons (1978, 1982), Giessen (1989-1990), Marburg (1990). He is vice-president of the International Association of Wood Engravers XYLON in Switzerland and chairman of the Polish Section of this organization. He belongs to foreign academies of sciences and arts in Salzburg and Brussels. He is the recipient of the Cyprian Norwid Art Criticism Award 1971, the Jan Cybis Award 1990 and many other awards. He was the first in Poland to translate Vasyl Kandinsky's texts ("Point and Line vs. Plane" and "On Spirituality in Art"), both published in print, and Kazimir Malevich's "The Non-Objective World." Fijałkowski's painting is based on a modest stock of abstract signs and a limited range of colors. The compositions, most of which suggest landscape or more broadly spatial shots, are built as if with single touches of the brush. Every detail becomes important, every nuance of color or texture is followed. Characteristic shapes and motifs repeat in various configurations in the artist's works like words from which he arranges a different story each time. The paintings usually bear poetic titles, often falling into grotesque or sureistic tones. These features add up to an unusual, intriguing, autonomous artistic phenomenon. Fijałkowski's paintings have been accompanied since the early 1960s by black-and-white graphics, mainly linocut and woodcut, occasionally lithography