Another exhibition of the “artyści bydgoscy – zapomnieni” cycle. Small exhibitions recount the profiles of late artists, as well as those who create in the privacy of their studies and very rarely present their works. JERZY GURDA, born on January 2nd, 1939, in Bydgoszcz, died on April 2nd, 1987, in Bydgoszcz. If it wasn’t for his sudden, prematuredeath, he’d have been 70 this year and celebrated the 45th anniversary of his artistic work. He finished the State High School of Art in Bydgoszcz. In 1959-1964, studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Mikołaj Kopernik University in Toruń. Diploma in painting, under Prof. Stanisław Borysowski. The author of six individual exhibitions,
participant in some 40 exhibition in Poland and abroad. His works can be found in the collections of museums in Bydgoszcz, Toruń, Koszalin, Słupsk, Olsztyn, in the Museum of Poster in Wilanów. He was the artist that organised a ‘concerto for many instruments. He did easel painting and wall painting, designed logos and posters. But, mainly, spoke through his painting (…). In its essence, it was abstract with subtle allusions to universal forms with biologic and cosmic origins. {…} He adhered to almost Cezanne-like principle of intelligence which organises a work of art. With the passage of time, his compositions became more dynamic, with a swing across the full breadth of the format he used. Those were paintings in which a colourist richness, kept consistently
in a specific tonality, was strictly connected to a sophisticated painting matter. In his works, as Łukasz Płotkowski noted, one can find complicated rhythms of jazz music, musical subjects turned many times in various combinations. Throughout his work, Jerzy Gurda intentionally deprived his works of titles, that suggestion of the desired direction of perception (…)”. He noted many successes in the domain of graphic
design. Especially significant achievements can be noted in posters let me just mention 3rd Prize at the Polish Biennale of Poster in Katowice. As for
the logo design, let me mention among numerous awards and honours the 1st Prize at the Polish Competition for the Logo of the 500th Birthday of Nicolaus Copernicus Płotkowski sums up in an article written
four years after the artist’s death. (Joanna Marldewicz)