Born: May 14, 1928, Nowy Sacz, Poland
Died: July 14, 1999, Krakow, Poland
Early days. His father died early, his mother was a laborer, his step-father threw him out of their house . He finished elementary school during WWII. After the war Maria Butscher-Dlugopolska helped him financially. From 1947 till 1952 he attended Panstwowe Liceum Technik Plastycznych in Zakopane, Poland and studied under the direction of Antoni Kenar. Next, during the period 1952-1958, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw advised by Professor Marian Wnuk. In 1959 he obtained a French stipend to study at the studio of Ossip Zadkine in Paris.
Work. After finishing studies he returned to Zakopane where he taught at the State College for Plastic Techniques. Later he taught at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw. His production relates to surrealism, abstract sculpture and new realism, but also to traditional craft. In his works he used finished products which he collected in his house in Zakopane. He is considered to be the pioneer of assemblage and pop-art in Poland. In his works from the 1960-ies one can see figures of sullen dignitaries, of dignitaries, stars of health resorts, delegates for conferences. Hasior carried always a photo camera. He collected the sights from provincial Poland. He created many non conventional and provocative monuments and plain-air sculptures both in Poland and abroad. In the 1990-ies, after the fall of communism in Poland, one tried to disavow Hasior reproaching authorship of monuments-apotheoses of the communist rule. He was accused of gaining his standing by being a favorite of the rulers of Poland. He died forgotten by Polish artistic milieu.
Selected works. 1961 Niobe; Przesluchiwanym (1964); cycle Sztandary (1965-1975); Golgota (1971); Czarny krajobraz I- Dzieciom Zamojszczyzny (1974); Wyszywanie charakteru (1974); Przesluchanie aniola (1980)
Monuments and plain-air sculptures Zakopane: Ratownikom gorskim (1959); Kuznice Rozstrzelanym partyzantom (1964), Czorsztyn Poleglym o utrwalenie wladzy ludowej na Podhalu (or Organy) (1966), Montevideo, Uruguay Golgota (1969), Oslo, Norway Stary motyl (1969), Buenos Aires, Argentina Ekshumowany (1969), Copenhagen, Denmark Plonaca Pieta (1972), Sodertalje, Sweden Sloneczny rydwan (1972), Szczecin Ogniste ptaki (1975), Koszalin Plomienne ptaki (1977), Wladyslaw Hasior's Gallery in Tatra Museum, Zakopane.
Some group exhibitions. 1960 - "Kenar and his students", Gallery Zacheta, Warsaw; 1962-"Metafors", Sopot, Warsaw; 1965 - 8. Biennale, Sao Paulo, Brazil; 1967- Contemporary Polish Sculpture, La Chaux-de-Fonds, France; 1969 - 1. International Biennale, Montevideo, Paraguay; 1970 - 100 Years of Art in Poland, Royal Art Academy, London; 1971 - 10. Biennale, Sao Paulo, Brazil; 1974 - 10. Biennale of International Art, Menton, France; 1975 - "W kregu nadrealizmu" (In the circle of surrealism), Muzeum Narodowe, Wroclaw; 1977 - "Le romantisme et l'esprit romantique dans l'art Polonais des XIX et XX siecle", Grand Palais, Paris, France; 1978 - "Marian Wnuk i jego uczniowie", Galeria Zacheta, Warszawa; 1983 - "Presences Polonaises", Center Pompidou, Paris, France; 1984 - "Rzezba polska 1944-1984", BWA, Poznan; 1994 - "Awangarda XX wieku" (20th century vanguard) , Museum Kunsthalle, Bonn, Germany.
Hasior's works can be found in: Moderna Museet (Stockholm, Sweden); Museo de Arte Moderna (Sao Paulo, Brasil); Alexander Pushkin Museum (Moscow, Russia); Stadt Museum (Bochum, Germany); Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam, The Netherlands); Polish National Museums ( Krakow, Poznan, Warsaw, Wroclaw), Muzeum Sztuki (Lodz), Muzeum Tatrzanskie (Zakopane).
Prizes and distinctions. 1971- Minister of Culture and Art first degree prize; 1974- Knight's Cross of Polonia Restituta medal; 1976- Minister of Foreign Affairs of Communist Poland Diploma "for outstanding contributions in propagating Polish art abroad"; 1978- Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation (New York) Prize "for important participation in the development of Polish culture and for propagating it in the world"; 1999- posthumously the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk; 2009- a series of stamps with photos of Hasior's sculptures issued by Polish Postal Service.
Movies about Hasior. 1963- "Rozmowa"(WFO); 1964- "Wladyslaw Hasior"(WFO); 1968- "Portret Wladyslawa Hasiora" (Warsaw TV); 1976- "Homo Hasior" (Finnish TV); 1976- "Cztery zywioly Hasiora" (Warsaw TV); 1982- "Hasior" (Polish TV).
This article uses, among others, material from the Wikipedia article "Wladyslaw Hasior" licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. :
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Wikipedia (in Polish)
supplemented with information from other sources
Impudent artist (Peter K. Gessner transl.)
Photos of some of Hasior's sculptures
Polish stamps with photos of Hasior's works
Kultura Polska: Hasior's bio and some of his works (in Polish by Ewa Gorzadek)
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