Roman Owidzki (1912-2009), WARS NO.1, 1968.

relief, mixed technique/plywood, 110 x 90 cm
signed p.d.: R. OWIDZKI. 68
signed, dated and described on the reverse: R.OWIDZKI | MARCH | 1968 | 110 X 90 cm | inscription Cautiously fragile | mounting hint and sticker: Roman Owidzki | title "Layers" No. 1| 110 x 90 cm| 1968 | relief |
mixed technique

Studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw between 1935 and 1939. Professor at the Painting Department of his alma mater. Pedagogue and art theoretician. At the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts, from 1956 to 1983 he led the Studio of Composition of Lumps and Planes (since the 1970s under the name of the Studio of Knowledge of Visual Actions and Structures). Author of the work on art didactics "Method of education in the field of knowledge about actions and visual structures" (Zeszyty Naukowe ASP, Warsaw 1985). He published "Form in Painting" (CBWA, Warsaw 1973), in which he conducted a formal analysis of ancient and contemporary art. The artist participated in three Modern Art Exhibitions - in 1948 in Cracow, in 1957 and 1959 in Warsaw. He participated in the 1st Biennial of Spatial Forms in Elblag in 1965 and in the Symposium of Artists and Scientists in Puławy in 1966. He exhibited at Krzywe Koło Gallery, Foksal Gallery, Stefan Szydłowski Gallery, among others. Winner of the Jan Cybis Award in 2007, he has worked in painting, printmaking, drawing, stage design and book illustration.

The presented monochromatic relief painting is a work characteristic of Owidzki's oeuvre - it points to formal issues of interest to the artist, such as structure, composition or textural effects, often achieved with non-painting materials.

"Reliefs made in brass plate, paper or canvas. It would be safer to write that made in a proprietary technique, since the aforementioned materials dominate, but equally important are sand, glue, plaster, string, etc. Behind what can be seen at first glance, behind the texture of the relief, there is a structure, a construction built once of wooden materials: boards, planks and slats; at other times there are string nets [...]. Roman Owidzki's works are very diverse, but they are all united by the dominance of playing with light. Backgrounds, plans, shapes, all this the artist builds from the density of lines, with which he creates net structures that let light pass through, just as sounds seem to fly through the thicket of harp strings. The line is the praelement and the basic instrument used by the artist to represent the problems of contemporary art in his works." Stefan Szydłowski (S. Szydłowski, The Phenomenon of the Person and Works of Roman Owidzki, [in:] Roman Owidzki, Catalog published on the occasion of the Jan Cybis Award to Roman Owidzki for 2007,