Jozef Gielniak

Jozef Gielniak

Was born on 18th February 1932 in Denain, France. Having artistic talent, he attended classes at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Vallenciennes, but, regrettably, he had to give it up due to financial reasons. In 1948 he got the first prize for drawing and watercolour, granted by UFOLEA (Union Française des Oeuvres Laiques d’Education Artistique). In the beginning of 1956 Professor Stanisław Dawski, the rector of the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, contacted Gielniak and started to care for his artistic education. He suggested dealing with graphic art – with linocut. After a few months he started to create mature works. He needed just two years for his individual style to be refined. In 1956 he made his debut, in 1958 he was accepted as a member of ZPAP (the Society of Polish Visual Artists). He started to participate in all the most important exhibitions of graphic art in Poland and abroad since that time. The most important individual exhibitions: Wrocław (1961, 1968), Jelenia Góra (1962), Vienna (1963), Gdańsk (1970). In 1959 he won the first prize at the National Exhibition of Graphic Art and Drawing in Warsaw.