Marian Walentynowicz

Marian Walentynowicz (born 20 January 1896 in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, died 26 August 1967 in Warsaw, Poland) was a Polish graphic artist, architect, teacher, writer and a precursor to the comic book in Poland.

He is probably best known for his collaboration as illustrator with Kornel Makuszyński in their creation of Koziołek Matołek, a popular classic children's series about a billy goat.

Life
Walentynowicz studied Architecture at the Warsaw Polytechnic. During the 1930s he taught at the Women's Architectural Academy in Warsaw (Żeńska Szkoła Architektury im. S. Noakowskiego). From the 1920s onwards he worked as an illustrator for various Warsaw publications. During the Second World War, he was the war correspondent attached to General Stanisław Maczek's First Panzer division of the Polish Armed Forces in the West. While with the Polish Forces, Walentynowicz stayed in London prior to the Normandy landings. The army had a quandary what to do with a Lieutenant who was a qualified architect, with insufficient knowledge of war craft. 'Make me a general', he suggested laconically and promptly was turned into a journalist. His war memoirs were published as Wojna bez patosu, War without pathos in 1969.

Graphic legacy


He designed the emblem of the Independent Polish Parachute Brigade as well as the awards for the Brigade's heroes. He was a prolific book illustrator. Among his jacket designs was the wartime edition of Józef Kisielewski's Ziemia gromadzi prochy, The Earth Gathers Dust. His children's book illustrations include:

With Kornel Makuszyński:
 * 1933 120 przygód Koziołek Matołek (120 adventures of Koziołek Matołek), on account of the 120 drawings, each with a caption in a quatrain.

With other authors:
 * Walenty Pompka na wojnie, a comic book with text by Ryszard Kiersnowski, published in 1957 by the weekly review for young people, Przygoda, in a series of 49 whole page comic strips.
 * Przygody profesora Biedronki – Profesor i Ptaki, 1956, The Adventures of Professor Ladybird

Some of the stories have been turned into well loved TV and feature film animations.

Literary output
Aside from his collaborations with other authors, Marian Walentynowicz also published his own work:
 * Ze sztucerem przez Czarny Ląd, stories published in the review Przygoda
 * Wojna bez patosu 1969, war reminiscences