Composition of circles in outline

Jan Berdyszak (1934–2014) was one of the most important Polish artists of the second half of the twentieth century. His practice encompassed graphic art, painting and drawing, as well as spatial objects, ephemeral actions, installations and theatre scenography. He explored both in practice and theory a number of fundamental concepts such as the object, form, space, transparency, light, darkness and shadow, absence, void and infinity. The work *Composition of Circles in Outline* (1970), held in the collection of the National Museum in Szczecin, is one of several in which Berdyszak addresses the essential artistic values of form and colour. Here, his focus is on the form of the circle – a shape associated with Platonic philosophy as unchanging and perfect, the origin of all being, and in Eastern religions, a symbol of cosmic harmony. In his early series such as *Double Circles* (1962–1964 and 1967–1969), Berdyszak breaks with the traditional rectangular painting format. His canvases take the shape of two vertically stacked circles, gaining an organic quality. The geometry dissolves into art. Through the use of semicircular outlines, a carefully considered colour palette, and eventually through cut-outs and the option of rearranging individual components, the works increasingly emphasise a dynamic relationship with the surrounding space. Space was a recurring theme in Berdyszak’s work, which he explored extensively, notably in the *Integral Illusion* series of the 1970s – also represented in the National Museum in Szczecin’s collection. Marlena Chybowska-Butler