Wieslaw Dymny, 1936-1978

Another amazing, ultra-gifted and tragic figure of the Polish cultural scene of the 1960’s and 70’s.  A graduate of Krakow’s Fine Arts Academy, Wieslaw was an active painter and printmaker, but his true vocation was writing and acting.  He was a cofounder of the legendary cabaret “Piwnica pod Baranami” (The Cellar under The Sign of Goats) in Krakow.  He was the lyricist for the great Polish chanteuse Ewa Demarczyk and the screenwriter for some of the most controversial Polish films of Poland’s golden era of filmmaking. Some of these films were banned for screening even to limited audiences. Wiesiek, as he was called by his friends, remains a fascinating figure of the Polish Boheme, a symbol of absolute freedom and individualism.

The first of two books Jan illustrated is entitled “Opowiadania Zwykle” (Everyday Stories) and dates from 1963. “Opowiadania Zwykle” was published again in 1997 by MUZA SA Publishing House in Warsaw.