Taken from the Marek Zulawski Facebook fan page:
Marek Zulawski was born in Rome in 1908 on the 13th of April, as the son of philosopher and writer Jerzy Zulawski, author of the “On the Silver Globe” trilogy, and Kazimierza of the Hanicki family, a professor of Romanticism and translator of French literature. He had two brothers: Juliusz – a poet, writer and translator of English literature – and Wawrzyniec – a musicologist, composer and mountaineer.
He spent his childhood in Zakopane and middle school years in Torun, where his widowed mother ran the “Zofijowka” guesthouse. Between 1921 and 1926, the guesthouse was a literary and artistic salon for the city; its guests included Witkacy, Stanislaw Przybyszewski, Jozef Wittlin, Juliusz Osterwa and Tymon Niesiolowski. Eugeniusz Gros had his first drawing lessons here. In 1926, Zulawski obtained his school-leaving examination certificate at the National Humanistic High School in Torun.
After graduating, he studied law at the University of Warsaw and painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. After two years, he stopped studying law and concentrated himself fully on painting, first at the workshop of Karol Tichy, then at Felicjan Kowarski and later Leonard Pekalski.
In 1933, he achieved his diploma in art (a year after one in decorative painting) and opened a graphic design workshop together with Tadeusz Trepkowski called “Atelier 33”. From 1932 to 1935, he regularly exhibited at the Winter Salon of the Institute of Propaganda Art as well as the Spring Salon in 1932. In 1934, he had a joint exhibition there with his cousin Jacek Zulawski and Hanna Jasinska.
In 1935, he went to Paris on a one-year scholarship and then to London where he remained. In 1937, he had his first solo exhibition in London’s Leger Gallery.
During WWII, Zulawski worked at the Polish section of BBC Radio, and in later years continued to work with them as their art critic. He was very active in artistic circles: he was involved with the Association of Polish Artists in Great Britain and an active member of several other artistic groups. He participated in over 150 joint exhibitions and 26 solo shows. He was also a writer and art critic.
His books include “Dawn, Noon and Night” (1958), “From Hogarth to Bacon” (1973), “Romanticism, Classicism and Back Again” (1976) and “Study for a Self-Portrait” (1980), the second part of which was published posthumously (1990) and the third (together with uncensored versions of the first two parts) in 2009.
He died on the 30th of March 1985 in London, aged 77.
