Jan Dobkowski (b. 1942, Łomża), "A Warm Place"

Condition
Work mounted in a passe-partout

Biography
Painter and printmaker. From 1962 to 1968, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw in the Department of Painting under Prof. Juliusz Studnicki and Prof. Jan Cybis. He was a co-founder (together with Jerzy Jurry Zieliński) of the “Neo-Neo” group (1967–1970). Illustrator of Guillaume Apollinaire’s poems “The Menagerie, or the Retinue of Orpheus” (1963). In 1968, Dobkowski participated in the exhibition “Secesja-Secesja?” at the Contemporary Art Gallery in Warsaw, which generated significant interest in the media and among critics. Following the success of that exhibition, his paintings were featured in the prestigious exhibition “Polish Contemporary Painting: Sources and Explorations” in Paris. Soon after, the Guggenheim Museum in New York acquired his painting “Double Girl” (1968)—Dobkowski’s first red-and-green work—for its collection. An entire series of paintings in this color scheme was created a year later, all in a uniform 200 x 150 cm format. Against green backgrounds, red silhouettes of male and female figures appeared in various situations, the latter most often with voluptuous, caricatured, exaggerated forms. Women with multiple breasts shaped like apples or pears exuded a powerful sense of eroticism and sensuality. Some forms in Dobkowski’s paintings fluidly transformed into others: a woman’s breast became a plump apple, a heart became a sperm, and the spine and ribs became an organic, supple structure. The green hues evoked nature, elemental vitality, and life. These paintings served as the starting point for numerous spatial installations and subsequent series of paintings. During martial law, he participated in independent cultural initiatives. In 1972, he was a fellow of the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including: the Cyprian Kamil Norwid Critics’ Award (1978); the Jan Cybis Award (1994) for his lifetime achievement.