Jan Berdyszak, LXIV, from the series "REQUIEM", 1969

70 x 62.5 cm - gouache, tempera, paper glued on cardboard

signed on lead l.d.: JAN | BER | DYSZ | AK | LXIV | 1969

The series "Requiem", comprising 20 oil paintings and about 80 paintings in tempera, was carried out by the artist from 1965 to 1969. At the root of each work of this series was an intentionally developed by the artist, a specific ideological and symbolic program. Here the artist used signs taken from various areas of iconography. This was the first series in Berdyszak's oeuvre where the communicated content had its clear references [...]. The artist referred to Catholic, Orthodox and Judaic symbolism, signs of pre-Christian cultures, cultures of antiquity, ancient forgotten symbols and conventional commonplace signs. All the paintings of this series had one thing in common: they were based on the symbolic shape of a gate-table.
Bożena Kowalska, Jan Berdyszak, Wyd. Literackie, Cracow 1979, pp. 33-35


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Jan Berdyszak (Zawory 1934 - Poznań 2014) studied sculpture at the State Higher School of Fine Arts in Poznań in 1952-58, simultaneously making independent attempts at painting and graphics. From an early period, his work focused on issues of space. In the series "Double Circles" (1962-64 and 1967-69), he broke the convention of the painterly rectangle. The paintings consisted of two circles, juxtaposed vertically one above the other, covered with moved, contrasting forms that created an internal space within the composition. The next stage of exploration was the introduction of real space into the painting in the form of a hole cut in the canvas. Since 1967, the space interfering with the matter of the painting gained "liberation" by the fact of dividing the painting into separate parts, which were exhibited in various combinations (symmetrically, antithetically, perpendicular to each other in the corner of the room, etc.). While Berdyszak's painting-spatial experiments have so far been accompanied by graphics (plaster prints, woodcuts, especially the series "Compositions of Circles"), at this point painting met sculpture. From the same period come multi-part, fold-out forms of colorful enameled sheet metal, provided for any juxtaposition. From the late 1960s Berdyszak's painting surfaces became flat, the forms sharply defined. The artist attempted to transpose into visual language the concepts of openness, infinity, potentiality, etc., rooted in Eastern philosophical thought. At the same time, in the series "Concentrating Areas" (1973-80), he proposed forms that induce the viewer to meditate. Objects made of glass and Plexiglas titled "Transparent" (1970-78) was continued in the installations of the 1980s and 1990s. Since 1990, the artist created the series "Passe-partout", realized in the form of objects, installations, prints and others. These are objects that repeat the form of the engraving frame, but with an empty opening exposing the surroundings. Berdyszak's oeuvre also includes ephemeral actions, large numbers of drawing sketches and texts written and spoken on the occasion of various meetings, lectures, presentations, etc. Since 1965 he has taught at his alma mater (since 1996 the Academy of Fine Arts). From the beginning, parallel to his mainstream work, he practiced stage design (he worked, among others, with the "Marcinek" theater in Poznan).
He died on September 18, 2014