
Jan Cybis (16 February 1897 - 13 December 1972) was a prominent Polish painter and art teacher.
Biography
Cybis was born in Fröbel (now
Wróblin, Opole Voivodeship,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...
) and studied at the
Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts
The Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków ( pl, Akademia Sztuk Pięknych im. Jana Matejki w Krakowie, usually abbreviated to ''ASP''), is a public institution of higher education located in the centre of Kraków, Poland. It is the oldest Po ...
in
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 159 ...
, settling in that city from 1934. The German Expressionist
Otto Mueller
Otto Müller (16 October 1874 – 24 September 1930) was a German painter and printmaker of the Die Brücke expressionist movement.
Life and work
Mueller was born in Liebau (now Lubawka, Kamienna Góra County), Kreis Landeshut, Silesia. Betwe ...
was his mentor. He studied under
Józef Pankiewicz
Józef Pankiewicz (29 November 1866, in Lublin – 4 July 1940, in La Ciotat) was a Polish impressionist painter, graphic artist and teacher who spent much of his career in France.
Biography
From 1884 to 1885, he studied at the School of Fine Ar ...
among others, developing a reputation for a post-impressionist style using rich, saturated color influenced by the French.
In the 1930s Cybis was among the most prominent of the
Kapists
Kapists or KPists (Polish: ''Kapiści'', from KP, the Polish acronym for the Paris Committee), also known as the Colourists, were a group of Polish painters of the 1930s who dominated the Polish artistic landscape of the epoch. Contrary to Polish ...
or Paris Committee, a significant group of Polish painters of the time. His wife
Hanna Rudzka-Cybisowa
Hanna Rudzka-Cybisowa (1897-1988) was a Polish artist and teacher.
Biography
Rudzka-Cybisowa was born on 27 June 1897 in Mława, Poland. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw where she was taught by . In 1923 Rudzka-Cybisowa becam ...
(1897-1988) was a notable painter in her own right and also active as a Kapist.
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
The Medal of the 10th Anniversary of People's Poland (Polish: ''Medal 10-lecia Polski Ludowej'') is a former Polish civil state award established by the Council of State on 23 May 1954 to recognize services to the state.
It was created to mark ...
in 1955, although during the Socialist Realism period Cybis was prevented from teaching for ideological reasons. Among his notable students was
Tadeusz Dominik
Tadeusz Dominik (14 January 1928 – 20 May 2014) was a Polish painter, draftsman and art professor.
Dominik was born in Szymanów near Góra Kalwaria. He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and received his degree in the pai ...
.

Cybis is buried at the
Powązki Military Cemetery
Powązki Military Cemetery (; pl, Cmentarz Wojskowy na Powązkach) is an old military cemetery located in the Żoliborz district, western part of Warsaw, Poland. The cemetery is often confused with the older Powązki Cemetery, known colloquial ...
in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is official ...
. His memoirs were published in 1980.
Jan Cybis Award
Since 1973 the
Association of Polish Artists and Designers
The Association of Polish Artists and Designers (, ZPAP) is an official association of professional artists in Poland, representing more than 8,500 learned artists working in the field of visual arts, including: painting, sculpture, graphic design, ...
(Polish acronym ''ZPAP'') has issued a prestigious annual Jan Cybis Award to Polish visual artists for creative achievement. Its recipients include:
* 1973
Tadeusz Dominik
Tadeusz Dominik (14 January 1928 – 20 May 2014) was a Polish painter, draftsman and art professor.
Dominik was born in Szymanów near Góra Kalwaria. He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and received his degree in the pai ...
* 1974 Krzysztof Bucki
* 1975 Jan Dziędziora
* 1976 Witold Damasiewicz
* 1977
Jacek Sempoliński
Jacek Sempoliński (March 27, 1927August 30, 2012) was a Polish painter, draftsman, art professor, critic, and essayist.
Sempoliński was born in Warsaw. He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. He taught at his alma mater ...
* 1978
Jan Berdyszak
Jan Berdyszak (15 June 1934 –18 September 2014) was a Polish artist. From 1952 to 1958, he studied at the Sculpture Department of the State College of Fine Arts in Poznań (now Fine Arts Academy), where he eventually returned as a lecturer. He ...
* 1979 Rajmund Ziemski
* 1980
Stefan Gierowski
* 1981 Barbara Jonscher
* 1982 no award
* 1983 Jacek Sienicki
* 1984 Jerzy Tchórzewski
* 1985
Jan Lebenstein
Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to:
Acronyms
* Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN
* Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code
* Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group
* Japanese Article N ...
* 1986 Jerzy Panek
* 1987 Jan Tarasin
* 1988
Jerzy Nowosielski
Jerzy Nowosielski (January 7, 1923 – February 21, 2011) was a Kraków-born Polish painter, graphic artist, scenographer, and illustrator.
He was well known for his religious compositions (wall paintings, iconostases, polychromies) in the ...
* 1989 Stanisław Fijałkowski
* 1990
Józef Czapski
Józef Czapski (3 April 1896 – 12 January 1993) was a Polish artist, author, and critic, as well as an officer of the Polish Army. As a painter, he is notable for his membership in the Kapist movement, which was heavily influenced by Céza ...
* 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
* 2010 Ryszard Grzyb
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cybis, Jan
1897 births
1972 deaths
20th-century Polish painters
20th-century Polish male artists
Burials at Powązki Military Cemetery
Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts alumni
People from Prudnik County
Recipients of the Order of the Banner of Work
Polish male painters
Recipients of the State Award Badge (Poland)