Mieczysław Wasilewski. Posters etc.
Mieczysław Wasilewski. Posters etc.
19 May – 20 August 2017
Exhibition curator: Mariusz Knorowski
Mieczyslaw Wasilewski is one of Poland’s most prominent graphic designers and illustrators. This artist’s latest works, extremely economical in expression, attest to his profound intellectual introspection, combined with an approach to drawing that involves total concentration, where the skilled gesture and infallible line dominate, in consequence of which we are witness to an extremely conscious, exceptional creativity abounding in artistic culture. Wasilewski's attachment to the concise brush stroke and matt depth of black ink is testimony not only to a mastery of the tools of his trade, but a fully formed artistic personality. The intellectual approach to be found in numerous drawings, so often enlarged to the poster format, is one that Mieczysław Wasilewski, as an outstanding teacher and academician, has instilled in graphic design students from around the world
Mieczyslaw Wasilewski was born on January 1st 1942 in Warsaw.Following his attendance at the State High School of Fine Arts in Poznan, in the years 1960-1966 he studied at the Painting and Graphic Arts Department of the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts, where in 1966 he received a diploma in Professor Henryk Tomaszewski’s poster studio. The artist spent the next years, 1967-1968, on further studies in Paris, then in 1970 he took up a position as a teacher at his alma mater, where he was Prof. Tomaszewski’s assistant from 1971 to 1985, the year he took over from Prof. Tomaszewski to conduct his own graphic design studio, was awarded the title of Assistant Professor, and in 1990 the title of Professor of the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. He held the post of academician at the European Academy of Arts in Warsaw from 1995 to 2013, where he headed the Graphic Design and Poster Studio. In the years 1998-2000 he was a member of the prestigious AGI (Alliance Graphique Internationale), an association of the world’s most prominent graphic designers.
He has participated in numerous collective and individual exhibitions in Poland and abroad. His works feature in many museum collections around the world, including the Poster Museum in Wilanów, the Musée de la Publicité in Paris, the Lahden Taidemuseo in Lahti (Finland), the Deutsches Plakatmuseum in Essen, West Chester University in Pennsylvania, the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence (USA), the Museum of Modern Art in Toyama (Japan), the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (Israel), the Imam Ali Religious Art Museum (Iran), and the Trama Studio in Mexico City.
His work encompasses poster design, drawing, illustration, and graphic design for the publishing industry. In the years 1969-1994 he worked with the monthly magazine "Problemy", designing its covers and illustrations and in the 1970s, with the magazine "Nowe Książki" (New Books). He is the author of numerous book covers for such publishers as Książka i Wiedza (the "Koliber" series), the National Publishers Institute, and Świat Książki (Book World).
As a poster designer, he has won numerous awards and distinctions, including the Gold Medal (1976) and the Silver Medal (1994) at the International Poster Biennale in Warsaw. In the field of graphic design for the publishing industry his works have been distinguished by the Polish Society of Book Publishers in its competition for the Most Beautiful Book of the Year. Mieczysław Wasilewski's illustrations appear in the most frequently read periodicals and newspapers in Poland, including "Gazeta Wyborcza" (Election Gazette), the magazines "Wysokie Obcasy" (High Heels), "Playboy", "Przekrój" (Review) and many others. Mieczysław Wasilewski has also designed graphics and logos for among others the Teatr Powszechny theatre in Warsaw (1988), the Polish PEN Club (2000), and the "Nova Polska" Polish Season in France (2004).