Date: 1980s
Size: 38 x 27 inches
Artist: Franciszek Starowieyski
About the Artist: Franciszek Andrzej Bobola Biberstein-Starowieyski (July 8, 1930, in Bratkówka, Poland – February 23, 2009) was a Polish artist. From 1949 to 1955 he studied at Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków and Warsaw.[2] He specialized in poster, drawing, painting, stage designing, and book illustration. He was a member of Alliance Graphique International (AGI). Throughout his career, his style deviated from the socialist realism that was prevalent during the start of his career and the popular, brightly colored Cyrk posters, however, he did create one Cyrk poster 'Homage to Picasso' in 1966. He was the first Polish artist to have a one-man show at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York in 1986.
About the Play: A play about the artist Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (also known as Witkacy) who was a Polish writer, painter, philosopher, theorist, playwright, novelist, and photographer active before World War I and during the interwar period.
After 1925, and taking the name 'Witkacy', the artist ironically re-branded his portrait painting which provided his economic sustenance as The S.I. Witkiewicz Portrait Painting Company, with the tongue in cheek motto: "The customer must always be satisfied". Several of the so-called grades of portraits were offered, from the merely representational to the more expressionistic and the narcotics-assisted. Many of his paintings were annotated with mnemonics listing the drugs taken while painting a particular painting, even if this happened to be only a cup of coffee. (wikipedia.com)
Poster is in overall very good condition with a minor loss on the bottom left hand corner (please see photos). From a private collection, ready to frame.