Józef Szajna (1922 - 2008)

Józef Szajna (1922 - 2008)

Studied at the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts.

Co-founder, director, artistic director of the People's Theatre in Krakow.

Founded the Warsaw based "Teatr Studio". 

Painter, designer, director and professor of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.

He is a survivor of both the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps, where he was held prisoner during WWII (prisoner number 18729). 

Szajna's  imagistic art is directly related to the Holocaust.  Like many Polish artists of his time, his work is dark, not "pretty", and deeply involves memory.  His imagery is often shattered remains of personhood and the psychology of hope, the seemingly unattainable struggle for something beyond the circumstances that befall and bring horror to the human condition.  In Poland, however, Szajna is most well-known for his innovations with theater; His theater, which also deals directly with the memory and monstrosity of the  Holocaust, seeks abstraction and becomes theatrical "art".

Konrad Jarodzki (1927 - Current)

Konrad Jarodzki (1927 - Current)

Studied architecture at Wrocław  University of Technology. 
Studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts, Wrocław.

Architect. Artist Painter. 
I first saw Konrad Jarodzki's paintings at the National Museum in Wrocław    His paintings are large, three dimensional, soft monochromatic textural pieces.  Many of his works are executed with the linear precision of an architect imitating the undulations of the natural world (air, clouds, water, smoke bulbous fatty deposits), but with a mild psychedelic appeal.  

I can't find much information about him online, but here is a link to his website (in English and Polish): http://www.konrad.jarodzki.pl/