Artist Profile | Cartoon & Caricature

Krzysztof Dydo

Krzysztof Dydo was born in Krakow in 1945. He graduated from the Krakow secondary school, later from the teacher training school, and in the years 1967 to 1971 he studied at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the University of Science and Technology (now Faculty of Electrical, Automatic, Computer and Electronic Engineering). After graduating, he worked as a teacher at the Railway Technical School, was head of the national transportation and tourism department at the Youth Tourism Office "Juventur", an antique dealer and poster artist at P.P. "DESA", manager of the "Galería Foro" and deputy director of the "Agencia Cultura Joven", then of the "Fundación Cultura Joven". In 1985, Krzysztof Dydo founded the "Poster Gallery" (which remained within the DESA structure until 1994). It was created on the basis of the private Dydo poster collection, which began in the mid-50s, that is, at the height of the so-called Polish Poster School. At that time, as a teenage student at one of the Krakow schools, he began collecting posters. To achieve the desired graphic work he resorted to various methods. Today, his collection numbers about 40,000 posters. More than 120 of them are posters specially designed and printed for the exhibitions that he has held in many countries around the world. Polish and foreign art magazines have written about the Krzysztof Dydo Collection and it is noted by many renowned international guides to Krakow and Poland. The “Poster Gallery” is the only gallery in Poland specialized exclusively in the promotion and sale of Polish posters, a meeting place for both artists and all those interested in Polish art posters. In addition to preparing exhibitions, printing catalogues, posters and postcards, the gallery collaborates in the organization and organizes various thematic poster competitions. It also offers its customers about 2,000 poster titles by more than a hundred Polish artists: graphics, painters and designers. An important part of the offer is a cultural poster: theatrical, cinematographic, musical, exhibition and author. You can also find a good social, sports or advertising poster. Throughout the gallery's existence, Krzysztof Dydo organized more than a hundred solo and group exhibitions in Poland and the same number in most European countries and in many countries of the world. Very often, in addition to thematic exhibitions, individual exhibitions of such famous Polish posters as Henryk Tomaszewski, Roman Cieślewicz, Jan Lenica, Waldemar Wałkuski and Stasys Eidrigevicius from Warsaw, Leszek Wiśniewski from Vienna, Leszek Żebrowski from Szczecin, Roman Kalarus from Katowice and the artists Wiesław Grzegorczyk and Kuba Sowinski. The gallery cooperates with state and private cultural institutions, galleries, museums, theaters both in Poland and abroad, with Polish embassies and numerous Polish institutes. Among the undoubted historical achievements of the Gallery is the organization of five major exhibitions with colorful catalogs: "100 years of Polish poster 1891 - 1992" (600 posters in 1993), "Masters of Polish poster" (200 posters in 1995), " film poster - 100 years of cinema in Poland" (880 posters in 1996), "Polish theater poster 1899 - 1999" (800 posters in 2000) and a retrospective exhibition of posters 1989 - 2001 with the album "Plakaty" (300 posters in 2001). This is what Włodzimierz Orzeł says about Krzysztof Dydo: “he published more than 120 posters and organized several hundred exhibitions. In addition to being a good man, he is a good husband and father of four daughters.” Krzysztof's attitude towards posters is best evidenced by his statement in the catalog of the Krakow Poster Festival: “Polish posters are a treasure that must be cared for. Many of us will envy him. It feels like being abroad. This is our good constant business card. Like Chopin in music and Wajda in cinema.” At 60 years old, he says that he needs to slow down a little, because he has been dealing with art for almost 50 years. He deserves a good retirement. But who will replace him in what he does? Krzysiu, take a little more time with us.