Stefan Papp (1932–2020)
Untitled, 1958
mixed media on paper, 21.5 x 30.4 cm
on the reverse: drawn by Stefan Papp | Ż. L. 32/342/-10.8.58
He was born in 1932 in Chernivtsi, then part of Romania. In 1947, he moved with his family to Cieplice, where he passed his high school graduation exams in 1952 at the High School for Working Adults. He completed his studies at the Faculty of Sculpture in 1958 and defended his doctoral dissertation at the Faculty of Architecture of the Kraków University of Technology in 1996. He had over one hundred solo exhibitions in Poland and abroad. He received numerous awards and honors.
For 22 years, he taught at the Fachhochschule in Münster. In Bad Oeynhausen, he created a several-meter-tall outdoor sculpture titled“Menchen”(the permanent installation is integrated into the city’s architecture). His numerous art projects utilized the powerful impact of artistic means on social and political consciousness. These included, among others, the art project “Vernissage at Szatkowski’s,” the initiative “Trees Die in Public,” carried out in 1975 as part of the 7th Złote Grono festival, and, during martial law, “Attention: Children Are Watching”.
Stefan Papp was the founder and co-creator of magazines devoted to contemporary culture and art. His drawings were published in the press at various times, including in “Dziennik Polski,” “Tygodnik Powszechny,” “Szpilki,” “Życie Literackie,” “Przekrój,” “Magazyn Kulturalny,” “Sztuka,” “Przegląd Tygodniowy,” and the cultural magazine “Fragile,” as well as in the literary and artistic periodical “Zebra,” of which Papp was the initiator and co-founder. They were also presented at numerous exhibitions in Poland and abroad, including at the National Museum in Kraków, the BWA in Kraków, the Caricature Museum in Warsaw, the Garb Gallery in Wrocław, the Theater 38 Gallery, the TPSP Salon in Kraków, and abroad: in Münster, Bergkamen, Oldenburg, and Gelsenkirchen (Germany), as well as in many other countries around the world.
