Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz

Polish sculptor Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz studied at the School of Decorative Art and Industrial Crafts, Kraków (1936-38), the Municipal School of Decorative Arts and Painting, Warszawa (1938-39), and the Academy of Fine Arts in Warszawa (1946-50), where he taught sculpture from 1950-85 holding the chair starting in 1972. After World War II he worked in the Office of Reconstruction. Jarnuszkiewicz was a member of an artist group that received an award for the memorial at the former Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz, the International Monument to the Martyrdom of Auschwitz-Birkenau, designed in 1958 as part of the international competition.

By 1964, Jarnuszkiewicz created three public monuments in Warszawa, Lublin and Kalisz and several architectural sculptures. He was also well-known as a medal and graphic artist. In the 1960s he created geometric openwork metal sculptures of immense proportions set in urban spaces. These were remarkable sculptures of welded junk – hooks, blades, bayonets, chains, equipment parts, and abstract compositions. He later returned to religious themes and figures.

In 1948 Jarnuszkiewicz won a 1st prize for his woodcut Boks (18 x 20 cm) in the Polish national preliminaries. As a design for stained glass, the work was considered Applied Art according to the catalog.