Outstanding painter, graphic artist and stage designer Franciszek Starowieyski has died in Poland at the age of 79 after suffering from heart problems.

Starowieyski came from a noble family and was educated at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow and Warsaw. He specialized in poster, drawing, painting, stage designing, and book illustration.

The artist was distinguished with many prestigious awards, including the Grand Prix Award at the International Biennale of the Arts in São Paulo, Brazil in 1973, the Grand Prix Prize at the International Festival in Paris two years later or the film poster award at Cannes Film Festival, in France in 1974.

Starowieyski was the first Polish artist to have a one-man show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. His works were also shown in galleries and museums in Austria, Belgium, France, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, and Canada. His many honours included the Grand Prix at the Contemporary Arts  Biennale in Sao Paulo (1973) and the Grand Prix for film poster design at the Cannes Festival (1974).

He was a great erudite, and had a fine, if somewhat macabre,  sense of humour. He loved the Baroque so much that when the world celebrated the new millennium in 2000, he said he was delighted to enter the year 1700. One of his friends said: ‘He could talk for hours about a 17th century cross or mirror but had nothing to say about computers or mobile phones’. He liked to provoke, both in his art and lifestyle. (jmmk)