Posters. Andrzej Pągowski
In the first half of February there will be an auction of works by one of the most famous Polish graphic and poster artists, one of the leading representatives of the Polish poster school - Andrzej Pągowski.
The artist is a graduate of the PWSSP in Poznań, he defended his diploma in the studio of prof. Waldemar Świerzy, is the author of over 1,300 posters issued in print since 1977 in Poland and abroad. He deals with book and press illustration, theater, film and television set design, and designs covers for music publishers. At the beginning of his career, he published satirical drawings in "Szpilki", "Przekrój" and "Radar". Characteristic for the artist is the exuberant freehand drawing and the dynamics of a gesture.
Andrzej Pągowski exhibited his works for the first time in 1975 in Poznań, at the exhibition of students PWSSP works at Galeria Nowa. Since then, he has participated in dozens of exhibitions in various Polish and European cities. He made his debut as a poster artist in 1977, awarded in Brno with a poster for Aleksander Fredro's play "Husband and wife". In 1982, he took part in the 16th Polish Poster Market, and in the 1980s his works were shown in Sofia, Berlin, Paris, London, Stockholm and Göttingen.
Over the years, the artist's workshop has evolved, Pągowski experimented with various forms and styles, it is especially visible over the decades - from paintings based on a few lines, through complex, very painterly projects, to modern computer collages. Pągowski's creative path is associated with the canon of film illustration, and thus also often with turbulent stories and anecdotes relating to the collaboration with many masters of Polish cinema. Tadeusz Różewicz and Andrzej Wajda indicate Pągowski as "their" best poster artist.
Many times his posters were given honorary places in galleries and received awards, for example in 1985 his poster took second place in the competition at the Warsaw exhibition "40 years of victory over fascism".
Pągowski created significant projects in the urban space, such as a mural in the Rose Garden of the Warsaw Uprising Museum or a "Warsaw cow" covered with black ravens, one of a hundred that grazed in the capital in summer 2005.
Involvement in the celebration of the Chopin Year and the idea for the painting of the composer's piano replica brought the artist several other unusual projects. The limited edition of the Villeroy & Boch porcelain coffee set, covered with original artwork, is a collector's item. Pągowski also designed the flag for "Dar Młodzieży" on the occasion of the Chopin cruise of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice.
Artysta nieustannie angażuje się w ogromną ilość przedsięwzięć artystycznych i edukacyjnych. W ostatnim czasie zasiadał m.in. w jury konkursów na projekt koncepcji architektonicznej Muzeum II Wojny Światowej w Gdańsku i na logo Szczecin Europejską Stolicą Kultury 2016. Zaangażowany był w projekt z okazji 30. rocznicy powstania "Solidarności", niezmiennie bierze udział w licznych aukcjach charytatywnych.
Pągowski has presented his works at numerous individual exhibitions in Poland and abroad, some of them are in private and state collections, incl. at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, San Francisco or the Pompidou Center in Paris, Madrid's Círculo de Bellas Artes, the Lahti Poster Museum, the Wilanów Poster Museum, the Łódź Museum of Cinematography and the National Film Archive. The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art placed the poster "The Wolf's Smile" among the 100 most important works of modern art in the MoMA collection. The artist is the winner of several dozen awards in national and international competitions. Andrzej Pągowski has repeatedly taken part in the competition for the best movie poster announced by The Hollywood Reporter magazine in Los Angeles, where he was awarded the first prize six times.
In 2018, at the Aleja Gwiazd promenade in Łódź, at ul. Piotrkowska, a star honoring Andrzej Pągowski's achievements was unveiled, in 2019 he was the laureate of the 10th edition of the Outstanding Pole competition
For outstanding services, he was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, in 2011 he received the Medal of the National Education Commission, and in 2012 the Award of the Capital City of Warsaw.