Zbigniew Makowski (1930 - 2019) Composition, 1961 oil, mixed media/plywood, 61 x 93.5 cm (dimensions in frame) == sync, corrected by elderman == @elder_man ID: 165844 Taxes and fees - In addition to the hammer price, the successful bidder agrees to pay us a buyer's premium on the hammer prices of each lot sold. On all lots we charge 20 % of the hammer price. - To this lot we apply 'artist&s owe right' (&#xx27;droit de suite&#xi27;) fee. Royalties are calculated using a sliding scale of percentage of the hammer price. Provenance Bernard Davis collection, Philadelphia Miami Museum of Modern Art, Miami, Florida private collection, Maryland private collection, Poland Exhibited Makowski, Miami Museum of Modern Art, 1963 More information The presented abstract composition, showing strong links with the poetics of informel, is one of the unique works of Zbigniew Makowski from his early, relatively little known period. It was created in a phase before the artist developed a recognizable style combining letters, symbols and narrative elements. In 1963 the painting was shown at an individual exhibition at the Miami Museum of Modern Art. He was sent to the USA from the Bernard Davis collection of Philadelphia collector and patron of art, the director of Miami museum and the founder of the local institution, also known as the founders of the National Philatelic Museum. Most likely Davis bought a job at the New York Cepeli Gallery in 1962 when Makowski presented his paintings there. The artist graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw in 1956 in the Kazimierz Tomorowicz studio. Immediately after his diploma, he created compositions that dominated abstract geometric forms, a cool range of blacks, whites and shades of gray and delicate references to a structural and lyrical variation of abstraction. The year 1957, when the artist showed his work at the Biennale in São Paulo, he coincided with the beginning of his interest in philosophy, culture, psychology and humanities, which had a huge impact on his later work. In parallel to abstract painting, typical gouaches were created, signaling the fascination of the world of symbols and imagination. In the '60s. Makowski gained international recognition at that time had numerous foreign exhibitions in his account. In 1963, his work was shown both in Miami and in Museo de Arte Moderna in Rio de Janeiro. Further exhibitions took place in Lausanne, Düsseldorf, Bochum, St. Gallen, Lund and Brussels. The artist's works then entered the collection of prestigious institutions, among others. Museum of Modern Art in New York City, as well as important private collections in the United States and France. The breakthrough in his creative development was his stay in Paris in 1962. There, the artist met André Breton and entered the PHASES group, with which he worked for a time. Surrealism then became a permanent reference in his art. Makowski later emphasized that it was in France that he realized that the figure in the surreal spirit could function independently of the existing doctrines, and that the essence is to seek another game, as he described the logic of thinking of Breton and the superrealists. The artist was a versatile personality and was interested in mathematics, philosophy, Eastern culture, cabalistics. In his paintings there were signs, letters, numbers, fragments of texts, references to hermetic treaties and mythology. He participated in the 3rd Exhibition of Modern Art (1959) and received the Award. Cyprian Kamil Norwid and later the prize. Jan Cybis. In the 1970s and 1980s he developed his own painting language, in which architectural landscapes and ancient structures coexist with records of esoteric formulas and suspended objects-symbols.