Franciszek Starowieyski (1930–2009), The Three Phases of Orgasm, 1988

Franciszek STAROWIEYSKI (1930, Bratkówka near Krosno – 2009, Warsaw)
The Three Phases of Orgasm, 1688 / 1988
pencil/graphite drawing on paper
signed and dated lower center: 'Three Phases of Orgasm, 1688'
dimensions inside the mat: 19.5 x 29.5 cm
dimensions with frame: 32 x 42 cm
mounted behind glass
Starowieyski often used a distinctive dating style set back 300 years, stemming from his fascination with Baroque culture. The date 1688 therefore most likely corresponds to the year 1988.

Franciszek Starowieyski (pen name Jan Byk) was born on July 8, 1930, in Bratkówka near Krosno. He died in 2009 in Warsaw. He came from a noble family bearing the Biberstein coat of arms. From 1949–1952, he studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków under Wojciech Weiss and Adam Marczyński, and then at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw under Michał Bylina, where he received his diploma in 1955. The artist is considered one of the most outstanding representatives of the “Polish school of poster art.” His work is associated with the European movements of Symbolism and Surrealism. The central motif of Franciszek Starowieyski’s art was an anonymous female nude with Rubenesque proportions, depicted in hybridized, sometimes mechanized forms. Starowieyski’s compositions formally draw on the Baroque and, at times, Art Nouveau; the painter was also inspired by the work of his favorite writer, Samuel Beckett. The artist gained popularity as early as the 1960s with a series of theater and film posters, establishing the poster as a distinct art form.
He was the first Polish artist to have a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.