"Jerzy Duda-Gracz painter, illustrator, graphic artist and scenographer. Born on March 20th, 1941 in Częstochowa. Died on November 5th, 2004 in Łagów.He graduated from the Graphic Faculty at the Katowice-branch of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków.
Duda-Gracz's art contains elements of both grotesque and irony on one hand and of sentimentalism and nostalgia on the other. The latter derives from a world which, in the painter's own words, 'departs, dies, which has more in common with the world of dreams, childhood memories' – the 'post-industrial landscape world'. He is, however, known primarily for works with more bitter overtones which comment on the socio-political reality of the past decades, beginning with the communist-era Poland and ending with the beginnings of the transformation. Formally, his art did not evolve much throughout the decades. Duda-Gracz's paintings, thinly-layered but with visible brush strokes, became less colour driven but stuck to the same expression of realism and grotesque. On one hand, he tapped into – what was often noticed – Polish painting from the late 19th and early 20th century (especially Witold Wojtkiewicz) and Flemish 17th century realism, but also into contemporary and local styles – kapism and the art of Silesian outsiders from the Janowska Group." (culture.pl )
Duda-Gracz's art contains elements of both grotesque and irony on one hand and of sentimentalism and nostalgia on the other. The latter derives from a world which, in the painter's own words, 'departs, dies, which has more in common with the world of dreams, childhood memories' – the 'post-industrial landscape world'. He is, however, known primarily for works with more bitter overtones which comment on the socio-political reality of the past decades, beginning with the communist-era Poland and ending with the beginnings of the transformation. Formally, his art did not evolve much throughout the decades. Duda-Gracz's paintings, thinly-layered but with visible brush strokes, became less colour driven but stuck to the same expression of realism and grotesque. On one hand, he tapped into – what was often noticed – Polish painting from the late 19th and early 20th century (especially Witold Wojtkiewicz) and Flemish 17th century realism, but also into contemporary and local styles – kapism and the art of Silesian outsiders from the Janowska Group." (culture.pl )
