Edward Dwurnik
Edward Dwurnik (1943–2018) was one of the most prominent and recognizable Polish visual artists. He was born on April 19, 1943, in Radzymin near Warsaw. From 1963 to 1970, he studied painting, graphic arts, and sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, where he earned his diploma in the painting studio of Professor Eugeniusz Eibisch. In 1965, after seeing an exhibition of works by Nikifor, he adopted and transformed the latter’s “naïve” style, which became a hallmark of his own painting.
Dwurnik created over 8,000 paintings across several extensive series. The earliest, begun in 1966 and continued until his death, is Hitchhiking Travels — distinctive bird’s-eye views of cities and towns. Among his most important series are Athletes and Workers — original and empathetic portraits of Polish society during the communist era and the decade of Solidarity.
In the 1990s, the artist explored new themes in various cycles, including Blue Cities, Diagonals, Blue, Long Live War!, and Counting Rhymes. In the mid-2000s, he also began working on an abstract series titled The Twenty-Fifth.