Wojciech Fangor

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wall panel in a subway station on the 2nd subway line Warsaw 2014

Wojciech Fangor (born November 15, 1922 in Warsaw ; † October 25, 2015 ) was a Polish painter, graphic artist, sculptor and poster artist.

Life

After studying painting privately from 1940 to 1944 with Felicjan Szczęsny Kowarski and Tadeusz Pruszkowski , he received an external diploma in 1946 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw . His first works were strongly influenced by socialist realism , such as "Korean Mother" or "Lenin in Poronin". From 1953 to 1961 he was a lecturer at the Warsaw Art Academy.

After Josef Stalin's death in 1953 and thanks to the loosening of the political climate after the Polish October , he freed himself from the imposed socialist realism and turned to abstract art. He was one of the founders of the Polish School of Poster Art . In 1958 he showed together with Stanisław Zamecznik (1909–1971) in the salon of the “Nowa Kultura” the first environment in Poland, the “Study of a Room” (Studium przestrzeni).

In 1961 he left Poland and lived in West Berlin in 1964/1965 , in England in 1965/1966 and in the United States since 1966 . During his stay abroad he taught at many art academies, including the Bath School of Art and Design in Corsham , Wiltshire (England), Fairleigh Dickinson University , Madison, New Jersey (USA), Graduate School of Design, Harvard University , Cambridge ( Massachusetts) (USA). As the only Polish artist to date, he showed his works at a separate exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City in 1970 .

In 2007, Fangor designed the graphic design for all stations on the 2nd line of the Warsaw Underground. The painted panels with station names were installed in 2014. One of his last works is the window created in 2015 for the Museum of Polish Contemporary Art in Recklinghausen .

In 1999 he returned home to Poland. In 2008 he was awarded the Gloria Artis Medal for Cultural Merit in Gold and in 2011 the Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta .

His works are highly valued at art auctions at home and abroad. He lived in the village of Błędów in the powiat Grójecki , about 60 km south of Warsaw.

literature

  • Bożena Kowalska: Fangor: Malarz przestrzeni (painter of space). Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe / Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warsaw 2001, ISBN 83-221-0735-8 (Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe) and 83-01-13629-4 (Wydawnictwo Naukowe).

Web links

Commons : Wojciech Fangor  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Zmarł Wojciech Fangor
  2. ^ Alfred Pfeffer: Art in the window. Highlights of the museum facade . In: Recklinghäuser Zeitung, November 27, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Fangor, Wojciech
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish painter, printmaker, sculptor and poster artist
DATE OF BIRTH November 15, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Warsaw
DATE OF DEATH October 25, 2015