Jan Cybis

Jan Cybis (16 February 1897 – 13 December 1972) was a prominent Polish painter and art teacher.

Jan Cybis in 1965

Biography

Cybis was born in Fröbel (now Wróblin, Opole Voivodeship, Poland) and studied at the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, settling in that city from 1934.^[1] The German Expressionist Otto Mueller was his mentor.^[2] He studied under Józef Pankiewicz among others, developing a reputation for a post-impressionist style using rich, saturated color influenced by the French.^[3]

In the 1930s Cybis was among the most prominent of the Kapists or Paris Committee, a significant group of Polish painters of the time. His wife Hanna Rudzka-Cybisowa (1897–1988) was a notable painter in her own right and also active as a Kapist.^[4]

Among other recognitions, Cybis was awarded the Polish communist government's Order of the Banner of Work in 1949 and the Medal of the 10th Anniversary of People's Poland in 1955, although during the Socialist Realism period Cybis was prevented from teaching for ideological reasons.^[5] Among his notable students was Tadeusz Dominik.

Cybis's gravesite, Powązki Military Cemetery, Warsaw

Cybis is buried at the Powązki Military Cemetery in Warsaw. His memoirs were published in 1980.

Jan Cybis Award

Since 1973 the Association of Polish Artists and Designers (Polish acronym ZPAP) has issued a prestigious annual Jan Cybis Award to Polish visual artists for creative achievement. Its recipients include:^[6]

• 1973 Tadeusz Dominik
• 1974 Krzysztof Bucki
• 1975 Jan Dziędziora
• 1976 Witold Damasiewicz
• 1977 Jacek Sempoliński
• 1978 Jan Berdyszak
• 1979 Rajmund Ziemski
• 1980 Stefan Gierowski
• 1981 Barbara Jonscher
• 1982 no award
• 1983 Jacek Sienicki
• 1984 Jerzy Tchórzewski
• 1985 Jan Lebenstein
• 1986 Jerzy Panek
• 1987 Jan Tarasin
• 1988 Jerzy Nowosielski
• 1989 Stanisław Fijałkowski
• 1990 Józef Czapski
• 1991 Łukasz Korolkiewicz
• 1992 Zbigniew Makowski
• 1993 Henryk Błachnio
• 1994 Jan Dobkowski
• 1995 Ryszard Winiarski
• 1996 Erna Rosenstein
• 1997 Jerzy Mierzejewski
• 1998 Leon Tarasewicz
• 1999 Tomasz Ciecierski
• 2000 Teresa Pągowska
• 2001 Jadwiga Maziarska
• 2002 Jacek Waltoś
• 2003 Aleksandra Jachtoma
• 2004 Jarosław Modzelewski
• 2005 Jerzy Kałucki
• 2006 Andrzej Dłużniewski
• 2007 Roman Owidzki
• 2008 Tomasz Tatarczyk
• 2009 Robert Maciejuk^[7]
• 2010 Ryszard Grzyb^[8]