JERZY STAJUDA

  He graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology under Prof. Bohdan Lachert in 1959. Between 1957 and 1968, he was involved in art criticism, publishing, among others: in "Przeglad Artystyczny", "Przegląd Kulturalny", "Polska", "Więzi", "Ty i Ja", and between 1959 and 1966 in "Współczesność" (both during his lifetime and after his death, his eminence and authority in this field is recognised; his heirs established the Jerzy Stajuda Award for art critics in 1992).

    In 1968, he broke with his activities as an art critic in favor of his own work. In the late 1980s, he ran a drawing studio at the Department of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. In 1991, he received the prestigious Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation Award in New York.

   He was fascinated by Chinese calligraphy, which resounds strongly in both the artist's drawings and paintings. In his works, he attempted to capture the relationship between line and blank, both comprehending in the role of a sign. This tension and mystery of spots creates an impression of mystery, as if the painter deliberately hides the true nature of his works from the viewer. 

He created abstract painting compositions sometimes reminiscent of lyrical shots that have something of the lightness of incense smoke gently dancing in the air; on the other hand, they are a kind of almost biological forms and interior landscapes. 

   He was inspired by the work of Artur Nacht-Samborski and Paul Klee.

   Stajuda's paintings, despite their ephemeral nature, were carefully, even geometrically planned by the author in the creative process (with the help of tracing paper he made drawing working grids, which were transformed into watercolor studies to be later appropriately scaled to the target canvas). 

    He was also a lover and connoisseur of music; he played the piano well. In the introduction to the 1988 exhibition catalog, he wrote: "Music is important to me. Maybe more important than painting."

    Born in 1936 in Falenica, died March 21, 1992 in Warsaw - Polish illustrator, art critic and painter.