St. Andrzej Świerard at lake in Tropics

Stefan Makarewicz's father, Juliusz, was an artist specialising in mural painting. He left behind numerous original polychromies, including those in the Greek Catholic Church in Stanislawow and the Roman Catholic churches in Rzeszow-Słocin, Mszana Dolna, Piotrków Trybunalski, Brześć Kujawski, Chorzów Stary and Sulislawice. At the same time, his restoration skills were valued, commissioning work on medieval paintings, including Byzantine ones. It was he who was involved in the conservation of three sets of Ruthenian decorations: in the Chapel of the Holy Cross at Wawel Cathedral, the Holy Trinity Chapel at Lublin Castle and the presbytery of Sandomierz Cathedral. Juliusz Makarewicz's elder son, Jerzy, became a painter, and his younger son, Stefan Maciej, studied at the Kraków Academy in 1931-1937, graduating a year later. In 1946, he began teaching at his alma mater, initially as Zbigniew Pronaszko's assistant. At that time, he designed the poster for the famous Modern Art Exhibition (1948), in which he incorporated surrealistic, abstract elements characteristic of many of his later works in the field of applied and technical graphics. Continuing the family tradition, already during the Nazi occupation he made polychromes and stained-glass windows in Zielonki near Krakow. The fact that this field became the most important medium of creative expression is evidenced by more than a hundred decorative and conservation commissions from the Church, among others in Biała, Czeladź, Kacwin, Maków Podhalański, Opoczno, Poczesna, Rodaki, Skawina, Wojnicz. Painted on sheet metal, the painting from the Szczecin collection combines inspiration from Byzantine art with surrealism and organic abstraction. The scene with the hermit saint from Tropie near Czchów, using a golden metal ground, was probably a sentimental return to the 14th century paintings in the Czchów parish church, unveiled by his father in 1913.

Szymon Piotr Kubiak