On May 13th Jan Zdarewicz passed away. He was a former emplyee of The National Museum in Szczecin, the creator of the Relic Conservation Department. The memory below has been prepared by those who remember having worked with him. Jan Zdarewicz was born in 1929 in Bydgoszcz.
In 1954 he graduated from the Faculty of FIne Arts of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. He obtained a diploma by Prof. L. Torwirt in historic monuments preservation and restoration; he specialized in graphics by Prof.Kuczyński and Prof Hopen. Since 1955 he was a member of Association of Polish Artists and Designers. Between 1955 and 1961 he worked at The Museum of West Pomerania in Szczecin and in 1975 he returned to this institution, re-named into The National Museum in Szczecin. He took charge of the Conservation Department in 1978 and was its manager until 1993, when he moved to Cracow. At the Szczein museum he was not only a conservator, bu he also created artistic works and exhibition layouts.
Our "Boss", as we called him, created the Conservation Department in the new pavilion, launched in 1989 at the museum backyard in Wały Chrobrego 3. It was our new Boss who consolidated dispersed workshops of conservation of painting, polychrome sculpture, wood and metal, ceramics and, created in 1990, of paper and leather, into one successful Conservation Department. Jan Zdarewicz, our Boss, was a wonderful, unusual figure, rich in ideas, good-hearted and beloved.
As an artist, he took part in nationwide exhibitions:
- 1959 - "Bałtyk w grafice (The Baltic Sea in Graphics)"- Sopot
- 1959, 1961, 1963 - wystawa Plastyki Ziemi Nadodrzańskiej (Exhibition of the Oder River Land Visual Arts)
- 1960, 1962 - Wiosna Opolska (Spring of Opole) - Opole
- 1962 - FPMW w Szczecinie (Festival of Polish Contemporary Painting in Szczecin)
- 1962, 1964 - Biennale Grafiki - Kraków (Print Biennial in Cracow)
Individual exhibitions in Szczecin:
- 1961 - "Korzenioformy"
- 1963 - Prints
- 1964 - Prints and paintings
- 1968 - Prints
Most important artistic works:
- Mosaic on the elevation of a building in Cedynia - thousandth anniversary of the Battle of Cedynia
- Mosaic at the entrance to the seat of ZPO "Odra" clothing company
- Relief for the City Hall in Wolin
- Graphic works and exhibition designs for The National Museum in Szczecin