Rebuilding Poland with Art – The Story of Lech Przybylski

My name is Szymon Gundelach. I’m 10 years old. I want to tell a story about my family member who lived in a difficult time. That person was Lech Przybylski, born 1929 in Katowice, but lived in Kraków, died 2010. He was a brother of my great grandmother and a well-known and respected graphic designer.

Lech Przybylski was born just after first world war in Katowice. It was a time when Poland regained it’s independence. During his childhood he observed country’s development. People built schools, theaters and new towns. Everybody wanted Poland to be strong and modern.

Unfortunately, when he was still young the second world war started and his dreams were lost.

Just after the war, he started studying graphic design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. At that time Poland was destroyed. Most of cities were ruined, people lost their homes and relatives. Not only buildings had to be reconstructed, but also culture and hope. It was not easy back then, because Poland was under the rule of communists. Despite that people were not allowed to speak what they think, many people created art and recalled Polish history.

One of them was Lech Przybylski.

He worked for the second oldest theatre in Poland called “Stary Teatr”. He was a chief of graphic design there. In the picture you can see me in front of the theatre which I have visited while preparing this story.

He created posters for plays by Wajda, Swinarski and Jarocki. He also revolutionized how theatre programme booklets looked like. They were no longer a list of the cast, but had become a work of art, full of original drawings and a unique graphic layout. He created a unique font used by theatre for many years and the logo of “Stary Teatr” that is still used until today. You can see the posters and logo here. These, and many more, are hanged on the wall in my apartment.

Apart from working for theatre he created satirical drawings for “Przekrój” and “Echo Krakowa”, he designed book covers in „Wydawnictwo Literackie” and took part in posters exhibitions.

Nowadays his works can be seen in Muzeum Narodowe in Kraków and Muzeum Plakatu in Wilanów.

For me it is amazing that someone from my family helped to preserve polish culture after The Second World War. He did not fight with weapons, but with art. Because of him and many others alike Poland could show other countries it’s culture, tradition and it was very important during the era of communism.

Lech Przybylski was not as famous as actors or directors, but his work was very important. Thanks to him, theatre could look better and function as it should. He also inspired others to act. This shows that everyone can do something worthwhile, even if they are not famous.

This story teaches me a few things.
First, it’s worth getting to know your family, because you can discover very interesting things.
Second, each of us can help others in our own way.
Third, culture and art are super important because they show that people around the world have different customs, and thanks to them, we can get to know who our ancestors were, learn about their history and see what impact it has on the world.