Hilary Krzysztofiak (1926-1979), TOTEM No. 15 OF THE CYCLE: "ZOLIBOR TOTEMS"

oil/canvas, 130 x 60
on the back on canvas and rafter, inscription: NR 15

Studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. In 1951 he returned to Silesia, where he came from. There he co-founded the group "ST-53" from 1953. The name referred to the year of the group's establishment, as well as to the place of its creation - Stalinogród (then Katowice) and the name of Władysław Strzemiński. The young artists referred to his "Theory of Seeing" as part of their revolt against socialist realism as a creative method imposed by the authorities. In 1955, Krzysztofiak returned to Warsaw and that year participated in the National Exhibition of Young Visual Arts at the Warsaw Arsenal. In the second half of the 1950s, he exhibited at the "Simply" salon, the "Contemporary" salon and the Krzywe Koło Gallery. In 1955-1957, he was graphic editor of the magazine "Simply". As a stage designer, he designed decorations and costumes for more than 50 plays, including stagings of Ionesco and Mrożek. Danuta Wróblewska noted that Hilary's stage design practice sensitized him to "the problem of space and the interpretation of symbol-pre-visuals." In 1964, when he was doing set designs for theaters in Opole and Bialystok, he created a series of "Bialystok Totems." He presented them at the Krzywe Koło Gallery and already the following year made a series of "Zoliborz Totems." The reference to Warsaw's Zoliborz was not accidental - the artist had his studio here.