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Lubomir Tomaszewski - a Polish-American designer, sculptor and painter.

Born in 1923, alumnus of the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. Student of the Warsaw University of Technology, is an extraordinary artist, searching for his own artistic way. Ambitious, he aims at creating art nobody else has ever created. He is a representative of experimental realism, a versatile sculptor and painter in love with music, nature and women beauty. He inherited his remarkable humanistic and musical talent from his mother, whereas from his father he inherited his technical and engineering talent. Thanks to this exceptional mixture of genes, Tomaszewski combines an engineer’s approach to nature and human beings with the ability to uncover the human soul. He knew he was an artist from the very beginning. He learned to paint before he could even talk: he made his first realistic drawing at the age of two and a half. The complicated course of events led him to settle down in New York region, the city became his new home, where he could find his way to artistic freedom and fame. He has over 150 individual and group exhibitions around the world to his credit. His works decorate the private studies and houses of Lawrence Rockefeller’s family and of the former President of the United States Jimmy Carter.

Work
Lubomir Tomaszewski creates using three different kinds of media: sculpture, paintings “painted with fire” and porcelain. As a sculptor, he uses ready fragments given by nature: stones or rocks, pieces of wood and bark, and combines them with metal or glass to create unique representations of animals, figures or forest spirits. As a painter, instead of a brush, he uses a torch. The technique of painting with fire and smoke offers not only amazing expression possibilities: it makes it possible to achieve the effect of lightness and dynamism, but also an amazing force of expression. No paint can produce such results. What makes the paintings so captivating is their ethereality and power that has a strong impact on the viewers and touches their emotions. Tomaszewski has been mastering this technique for over 20 years. While creating porcelain figurines, Professor Tomaszewski approaches the subject with great passion, as he treats them as small sculptures. He works on his own unique style and believes that by designing small-scale sculptures he gives people something beautiful, with modern shapes, something that increases the aesthetic level of the society. His adventure with porcelain figures started in the 1950s in the Institute of Industrial Design, where he used to work. LubomirTomaszewski’s excellent education, his talent and his extraordinary abilities to observe nature and contemporary art led him to found an international artistic movement: he is the spiritual father and the leader of the Emotionalists, a group established in 1994, formed of painters, sculptors, designers, photographers, dancers and musicians. The New York Times called him “a motion sculptor”. By his works Tomaszewski proves that popular, not necessarily highly abstract, art can bring great joy to many people, but can also evoke other emotions, such as anxiety or fear. Thanks to the fact that he depicts and evokes emotions that are shared by many people, his works are found in private collections, corporations, museums and galleries around the world, and the number of admirers of his sculptures and paintings is constantly growing. LubomirTomaszewski’s works are included in the collections of the National Museum in Warsaw; the National Museum in Kraków; the Warsaw Rising Museum (Warsaw); the National Museum in Wrocław; Halle Museum (Germany); Robert Marston, INC.; Marvin Gliman; Lighting Services INC.; Lawrence Rockefeller and the Rockefeller family; the Ziselman family (Caracas, Venezuela); Jimmy Carter, former President of the United States; T. Komine of Kyowa Bank (Tokyo, Japan), and others.

Design
Creating porcelain figurines, Professor Tomaszewski approaches the subject with great passion, as he treats them as small sculptures. He works on his own unique style and believes that by designing small-scale sculptures he gives people something beautiful, with modern shapes, something that increases the aesthetic level of the society. His adventure with porcelain figures started in the 1950s in the Institute of Industrial Design, where he used to work.

Sculptures
Burnt wood technique - Charred or burnt wood – sometimes the artist finds these in nature and uses them like the decaying wood described above and sometimes he burns them himself. The use of fire is the most natural process to achieve form, thanks to which "raw," natural, powerful feelings, emotions tied with feelings of loss, death, and tragedy are achieved, all brought about by the awareness of the destructive strength of fire. This technique allows one to speak of the most dramatic questions, like war, crime, and catastrophe. The burnt surface creates a dramatic effect of contrast in comparison with the natural color of the wood. The complementing metals of copper and bronze bring out the most important elements of the composition. Bas-reliefs from wood or metal give greater narration and wider subject matter, allowing for the expression of social relations and human dreams. Wood and stone technique - Natural stone or rock joined with metal – recalls from the audience an association with nature, as well as an impression of strength, mass, heaviness, power, dignity… For example, an elevated rock acts through association with the inertia of a thrown weight. The artist is inspired by the visual aspects of the rock and he completes his vision by incorporating metal pieces. The history of the origination of the work is demonstrated in full strength. Decayed wood technique - Decaying wood with metal leads one to think of "wild, beautiful nature", accented often by "predatory" metal details; reminds one of the strength of nature and her elements, like wind, flood, and snow. These elements are the main components of the feeling of romanticism. This is a type of forgotten, but eternal beauty – wood rotting, but not dying. Likewise with rock and metal technique, the viewer stands witness to the creative process. Wet bronze technique - in this technique, the artist uses metals of different colors that are melted at approximately 1000 degrees Celsius, which he pours onto copper sheets. Sculptures created from this technique have different colors depending on the type of material (metal) and how it behaves at high temperatures. The artist sometimes calls these "the 1000 degree watercolors" because the desired effect is similar to water-based techniques – colorful streaks poured on a uniform background. Entirely metal, open- work compositions allow for the presentation of human silhouettes, full of airiness, as if suspended in space. This technique produces a decorative effect and works to emphasize the subject or beautiful composition, i.e. scenes at the ballet, theater, or expresses very strong, emotional value, for example freedom, collective deeds, etc. This very expensive technique allows for the achievement of surprising effects from metal.

Paintings
"Smoke paintings," which the artist "paints" with smoke on paper, technically are similar, but are different in expression in relation to burnt paintings. This technique allows for creations of fascinating, airy, non-material visions, romantic ladies wandering under the light of the moon, illusions of dancers on stage, musical effects… Even though seemingly delicate, works created by this technique, accurately preserved by the artist, turn out incredibly lasting. If it is in sculpture the artist gives human actions natural elements, if it is paper, thus material made by man, it becomes subject to fire, which is a natural element. The result is a two- dimensional work that resembles the technique for burning wood. Similar to burning wood, it stirs up strong emotions in the viewers, tied with feelings of unhappiness, death, and tragedy, but also the happiness of life. These are the most advanced of Tomaszewski's visual techniques. This is a very difficult technique because the artist cannot make a mistake – the effects are irreversible, a moment of carelessness can ruin many hours of work. However, with the use of this method one can express the most dramatic emotional moments. Even though works made by this technique appear to be brittle and not lasting, the steadfast experimentations of the artist in the field of chemistry allowed him to make burnt paper very durable.

Shows/exhibitions
1964  Sculpture, ceramics and glass, Galeria Kordegarda, Warsaw, Poland

1969  Rye, New York, NY

1970  Lubomir Tomaszewski, Sculpture 1967-1970, 20 III – 15 IV

1971  In Cellar Gallery, New York, NY

1972  Altman Craft Gallery, New York, NY

1974  Fairfield, CT

1975  New York, NY, USA

1978-84 annual exhibits at Margot Gallery, New York, NY

1981-88 annual exhibits at Old Warsaw Gallery, Alexandria, VA

1986  Morin-Miller Galleries, New York, NY

1988  Nippon Club, New York, NY

1988  Polish American Artists Society, New York, NY

1989  The Carriage Barn Arts Center, Waveny Park, New Canaan, CT (New Canaan Society for the Arts)

1989  Long Island City, NY

1989  New England Center for Contemporary Art (NECCA), Brooklyn, CT

1989  Images Gallery, Norwalk, CT, USA

1990  The Carlson Gallery, Bridgeport, CT

1990  Unique Gallery, Westport, CT

1990  2001 permanent exhibition, Museum NECCA (New England Center for Contemporary Art), Brooklyn, CT

1991  Museum NECCA, Brooklyn, CT

1993  Skulski Art Gallery, Clark, NJ

1993  Consulate General of the Republic of Poland, New York, NY

1994  Reccini Studio Gallery, Hudson Valley, NY

1994  Images Gallery, Norwalk, CT

1995  Polish Art Gallery, New York, NY

1995/1996 – Fordham University at Lincoln Center, New York, NY

1996  Polish Institute of Arts and \Sciences, New York, NY

1997  Blue Hill Plaza, Pearl River, NY

1997  Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

1997  L’Atelier Gallery, Piermont, NY

1998  New London Art Society Gallery, New London, CT

1998  Easton, CT

1999  Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences, New York, NY

2000  Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

2000  Walsh Library Gallery, Seton Hall University, NJ

2000  Museum of Warsaw Uprising, Warsaw, Poland

2000  Brooklyn, NY

2002  Polish Academy of Science, Warsaw, Poland

2003  Château de Brissac, France

2004  Gallery des Hamptons, Westhampton Beach, NY

2005  ArtRedSpot Gallery, Fairfield, CT

2007  Brooklyn, NY

2009  Skulski Art Gallery, Clark, NJ

2009  Brooklyn, NY

2011  Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences, New York, NY

2013  Institute of Design - Kielce, Poland

2014  Missions of Poland and United The States of America to the United Nations Office at Geneva, Switzerland

Awards
1955 – Pierwsza nagroda w konkursie na rzeźbę „w otoczeniu Pałacu Nauk i Kultury w Warszawie”

1964 – Złoty Krzyż za osiągnięcia w dziedzinie wzornictwa przemysłowego, Polska

1984 – Award for Achievement in Sculpture, Perspective Magazine, USA

1991 – Best in Show O.A.F., Bruce Museum, USA

2005 – Pierwsza nagroda „ Spectrum”, New Canaan Society for the Arts, USA

2006 – People’s Choice Award, National Sculpture Society, New York

2008 – Pierwsza nagroda za rzebé ‚Mythical Giant’ w New Canaan Society for the Arts, New Canaan

2010 – American Sociaty of Contemporary Artists, New York, NY, nagroda za rzeźbę “Joy of Dance”

2011 – Druga nagroda za rzeźbę ‚Illusion’ w New Canaan Society for the Arts, New Canaan

2013 - Pierwsza nagroda za rzeźbę „Flight” przyznana przez New Canaan Society for the Arts

Emotionalist Movement
link