2024-11-19
Stefan Gierowski (1925-2022), Polish abstract painter, representative of the contemporary avant-garde of painting, and educator, died on 14 August. He was a pupil of Zbigniew Pronaszko and Karol Frycz, and taught at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts from 1962 to 1996. His death was announced by the Foundation named after him.
Stefan Gierowski graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków in 1948. Interestingly, at the same time as studying painting, he studied art history at Jagiellonian University. His experience as an art theoretician probably opened him up to modernity in painting. In 1951, the artist illustrated the novels of Edmund Niziurski, and in 1955, he took part in the National Exhibition of Young Visual Arts "Arsenal", entitled "Against War - Against Fascism". As it later turned out, this was a landmark event for post-war Polish art, during which artists openly spoke out against the styles of Socialist Realism and Colourism. Between 1956 and 1957, Gierowski began to exhibit his abstract paintings, and a year later he established a partnership with Marian Bogusz, with whom he jointly ran the Krzywe Koło gallery.
Stefan Gierowski began teaching at the academy in 1962 and was soon given his own painting studio. In 1975-1981, he held the post of dean of the Faculty of Painting, and in 1986 he was awarded the title of full professor. He continued to teach until 1996.
At the beginning of his artistic career, Stefan Gierowski painted mainly in colour, creating works of rich texture. In the 1960s, the artist showed a tendency towards geometric picture structure. In the 1990s, he used increasingly bold colours in his paintings. A very interesting series is "Painting the Ten Commandments", which he dedicated as a tribute to the 15th-century Gdańsk Master, the anonymous author of the "Table of the Ten Commandments" for the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Gdańsk.
All of Gierowski's abstract compositions were labelled consistently, that is, numbered using Roman numerals.