Painting by Edward Dwurnik found among things to scrap

"What a sensation! Did you know that in the office of Wola Cultural Centre director Krzysztof Mikołajewski hangs a painting once found by Michał Mioduszewski in a basement and saved from being scrapped? It turned out it was a 1976 painting from Edward Dwurnik's 'Sławoszyno' series," Wola Cultural Centre informed on Facebook.

The director of the institution Krzysztof Mikołajewski said the painting had been found six months ago: "The painting was saved when we were decluttering the basement. Technical staff told us that these things were to be thrown out. Among them was a Dwurnik painting from the "Slawoszyno" series, and we stood dumbfounded. It was signed in the front and the back, and we immediately knew it was the work of the master".

At first, the employees of the Wola Cultural Centre did not know it was a part of a famous series, they suspected the picture could have been created during outdoor painting.

"It turned out it was a 1976 painting from Edward Dwurnik's 'Sławoszyno' series. The painting was searched by Edward Dwurnik's daughter, Pola. She found out in her father's catalogues that such picture existed, but she couldn't find its location. According to the last entry, it was in an institution long non-existent. It finally turned out it was in our basement," Mikołajewski said. He added that a paintings conservator would have to assess the condition of the painting and decide whether it needs conservation work.

The paintings from the "Sławoszyno" series were painted in 1976 during the artist's stay in the eponymous village in Kaszuby. Wola Cultural Centre now wants to put the finding on display together with other works from the series. "I think two other paintings are in the Zachęta gallery, and two more are at some other Polish institution. If we join forces, we can show such collection. This painting comes from the artist's early period. It shows elements of naive art, comic-book-like. It was clearly inspired by Nikifor," said the director.

Edward Dwurnik was a Polish painter, illustrator, and graphic artist who captured the transforming landscape of Poland through its labourers, athletes, everyday people and places on canvas over several decades of the 20th century and beyond.

He was born in 1943. In 1963-70 he studied painting and graphic design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, for three years also sculpture.

The artist became known already in the 1960s for his "Hitchhiking Trips" series. Among his other notable works are "From December to June" - about Poland's Martial Law victims, as we well as a homage to the victims of Stalinist terror "The Road East".

Dwurnik received many awards for his work, including Solidarity Labor Union Cultural Award (1983), Nouvelle Biennale de Paris (1985), Olympic Art Festival in Seoul (1988), and Award of the Coutts & Co. International Private Banking Contemporary Art Foundation in Zurich (1992).

He died on October 28, 2018, at the age of 75.