Henryk Zarski
| The
drawings of Henryk Zarski reflect the experience of rural life in
Central Europe in a manner that is at once candid and marvellously
direct. His evocations of the world he inhabits are suggestive of
a compelling reality, although the objects in his pictures occupy
a resolutely two-dimensional picture space. Despite the artistic talent
which is now evident, until the age of eighteen Zarski was considered
to possess neither skills nor interests by the staff of the Special
Institution for Children in Zduny, Poland where he had been confined
since infancy. Born in Jabelwarc, Germany towards the end of the Second
World War, he was diagnosed as severely mentally retarded and Iemployed
only to do simple cleaning and babysitting jobs in the institution.
He fared much better in the Welfare Institution in Pakowka. to which
he was moved in 1962. In 1989 he was released and employed as a farm
labourer, but returned voluntanly to the InstItutIon a short tIme
later; a reflectIon on the fact that after so many years on the 'inside'
its particular conditions and community satisfied best his sense of
belonging and idea of home. It was at this time that Zarski began
to draw, at first finding inspiration in images he saw in newspapers
and on postcards, and later articulating his personal visions. His
work has been displayed in exhibitions of 'psychiatric art' in Europe,
and more recently London.
These watercolour & gouache paintings are all untitled, each measures approx 10 x 15 inches. Most are signed verso. |
For further information and a list of works currently available |
