Waldemar Szermanski (b. 1957), "Crucifixion," 1996

Biography
He was born in Bystra Śląska near Bielsko-Biała. Since some of his acquaintances address him by the name Waldemar (metric) and some by Marek, he uses both.
As a boy, he watched the preparation of performances, including decorations, props and costumes, in the studios of the Banialuka Puppet Theater in Bielsko-Biała, where his mother, Władysława, ran a puppetry studio. At that time he came into contact with outstanding creative personalities, including Jerzy Nowosielski, who to this day is one of the most important sources of inspiration for W.M. Szermanski. He was educated at the Advertising Art School in Katowice and at the Methodological and Subject Study of the Katowice branch of the Institute of Teacher Education in Warsaw, majoring in plastic education. Fascinated by the life and works of Amadeo Modigliani, he wandered to Montparnasse in Paris, where he participated in the classes of a school that was a continuation of the famous Colarossi Academy. W.M. Szermanski practices fine art in the field of easel painting and drawing. In art, he is interested only in the individual language of creative expression, so he sought his own and associated with his painting plastic signs.
The places of professional work were the result of his interests and life attitude, and among the institutions where he was employed are the Art Exhibition Office in Bielsko-Biała, the Museum in Zywiec, the Silesian Puppet and Actor Theater Ateneum in Katowice.
For many years he was a teacher at schools in Katowice and Pawlowice, where he taught art classes and was an animator of school art and theater circles.
Among his creative inspirations, in addition to J. Nowosielski, he mentions such masters as Kiejstut Bereźnicki, Stanisław Fijałkowski, Eugeniusz Markowski and Georges Rouault, Chaim Soutine, Adolph Gottlieb.