Dwurnik’s work is divided into a complex series of paintings. Created in parallel over the years, the series often intertwine. He was a highly prolific artist who, during his long artistic career, created over 8,000 paintings on canvas and over 20,000 works on paper, each of which he meticulously described and documented in his own register. In 1965, he first encountered the work of self-taught artist
Nikifor Krynicki, whose influence shaped his own artistic style, characterized by synthetic contour drawing and narrativeness. From this moment forward, Dwurnik’s work gained new momentum, and his non-academic output began with
Rysunek nr 1 (Drawing No. 1), dated June, 13 1965. In a 1996 interview, Dwurnik referred to Krynicki’s exhibition as fundamental to his artistic growth: “He was my greatest master, in fact the only one. I have never experienced greater emotions than those evoked in me by his paintings when I saw them in person.” In the same year, Dwurnik began working on the series
Podróże autostopem (Hitchhiking trpis), the oldest and most extensive series in his oeuvre. According to the artist’s catalog, maintained online by the Edward Dwurnik Foundation, this series consists of over two and a half thousand works. The theme of the paintings was urban landscape, painted from a bird’s-eye view, with characteristic accumulation of motifs: people and architectural elements. Inspired by Krynicki’s painting, Dwurnik adopted and then perfected the method of rendering
vedute, based on simplified drawing and the use of color patches surrounded by dark contours. Strong stylistic similarities can be noticed between his first works in the series and Nikifor’s compositions. In subsequent years, Dwurnik gradually added new components, giving the buildings a three-dimensional quality, and introduced a repertoire of motifs that did not appear in the work of the artist from Krynica. In the 1990s, he also created two unofficial subseries:
Miasta diagonalne (Diagonal Cities) and
Niebieskie miasta (Blue Cities). The
Podróże autostopem series is numbered nine and does not include depictions of Warsaw, to whose landscapes Dwurnik devoted a separate series, numbered eleven, entitled
Warszawa (Warsaw). In 1971, his first solo exhibition was held at the contemporary art gallery Galeria Współczesna in Warsaw. He presented paintings from the series:
Dyplom (1969–1970),
Gipsowy plener (Gypsum Exterior; 1970–1971),
Droga (Way of the Cross; 1970–1971),
Różne błękity (Different Blues; 1971),
Namiętności (Passions; 1969). Dwurnik was already a full-fledged artist, appreciated for his “rebellious attitude” and “conclusions drawn from various trends in youth anti-art.” During his first trip abroad to
Paris in 1967, he encountered the work of
Bernard Buffet, which significantly influenced his expressive painting style. In 1972, he began working on the series
Sportowcy (Sportsmen), which premiered in Galeria Arkady in Krakow in 1974. Its title referred to a brand of cigarettes, Sport, commonly smoked during the communist era. Dwurnik focused on depicting ordinary people and their everyday problems, characteristic of life in the
Polish People’s Republic. The series is often considered one of the most valuable works documenting everyday life in communist Poland. During almost twenty years of working on this series, Edward Dwurnik created 274 canvases. Between 1975 and 1991, Dwurnik worked on a painting series titled
Robotnicy (Workers). The 1980s were turbulent for him, and the political events in the country had a crucial impact on the themes of his paintings. The groundbreaking events of labor strikes, the birth of the “Solidarity” movement, the reality of martial law – as well as the first free election and the change of the political system – inspired Dwurnik to create a series of 260 paintings and a few hundred drawings, collages, and graphics. The canvases from the
Robotnicy series are painted with dynamic brushstrokes and kept in dark tones. From 1972 to 1977, he participated in the artistic movement “O poprawę” (For Improvement). In 1981, as a part of the
Warszawa series, Edward Dwurnik included a prophetic vision of
martial law, which was announced on December 13, 1981. In the winter scenery of the capital city, the artist placed crows on the snow, barbed wires, and tanks on empty streets, which constituted a clear metaphor of the upcoming events. Despite the country’s political turmoil, the turn of the 1970s and 1980s was a time of numerous successes for Dwurnik, both professionally and personally. In 1989, his first solo exhibition abroad was presented at the Georg van Almsick Gallery in Gronau-Epe. A year later, his daughter Apolonia Dwurnik was born. At the same time, Edward Dwurnik began working on the series
Krzyż (Cross; 1979–1991), which explored the iconography of crucifixion. In 1982, as the only Pole, Edward Dwurnik participated in the prestigious
documenta 7 exhibition in Kassel, where he had the opportunity to meet the famous German artist,
Joseph Beuys. Five years later, in 1987, the first museum exhibition of Dwurnik’s works took place in the
National Museum in Wroclaw. The early 1990s mark the politically engaged painting series, such as
Droga na wschód (The Way to the East; 1989–1991), devoted to the victims of Stalin’s regime, and
Od grudnia do czerwca (From December to June; 1990–1993), which was a tribute to the ninety-six people murdered during martial law, listed in a report by a special committee appointed by Contract Sejm to investigate the activities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Between 1991 and 1994, Dwurnik worked on the
Niech żyje wojna! (Long Live the War!) series which criticized and commented on the tragic events in the former
Yugoslavia. At the same time, he created canvases inspired by sea views from the series
Błękitny (Blue; 1992–2018) and humorous paintings from the series
Wyliczanka (Counting; 1966–1999). Between 2000 and 2018, as part of the
XXV series, Dwurnik created abstract paintings in the style of action painting, which were presented in an exhibition entitled
Edward Dwurnik. Thanks Jackson in 2005 in Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art in Krakow. Simultaneously, Dwurnik also created large-format paintings which entered into dialogue with the work of
Jan Matejko, an example of which is
Bitwa pod Grunwaldem (The Battle of Grunwald) from 2010, painted for the six hundredth anniversary of the historic victory. Since 2019, Edward Dwurnik has been represented in the art world by the private gallery Raster in Warsaw. == Personal life ==