Czesław Tumielewicz (born November 20, 1942, in Lida) is a Polish painter and graphic artist, and professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk.
He has been painting since the age of 16. In May 1945, he was repatriated to Poland. Since 1961, he has lived in Gdańsk, where he studied architecture and painting under professors A. Gerżabek, W. Lam, and A. Fiszerowa. He also studied artistic printmaking at the PWSSP in Poznań (now the University of the Arts), under Prof. L. Mianowski, and painting under Prof. Tadeusz Brzozowski. He graduated in 1968 from the Faculty of Architecture at Gdańsk University of Technology, and later earned his diploma in painting in 1978 at PWSSP in Poznań.
He held his first solo exhibition in 1965 in Bydgoszcz. In 1971, he became an assistant at the Faculty of Graphic Arts at PWSSP in Gdańsk. From 1975 to 2000, he ran the Lithography and Linocut Studio, and later taught Workshop Graphics Fundamentals for graphic arts students and Relief Printmaking for painting students. Between 1990 and 2002, he served as head of the Department of Artistic Graphics at the Gdańsk Academy of Fine Arts. He was appointed associate professor in 1984, full professor in 1994, and tenured professor in 2012. He retired in 2013.
Tumielewicz works across a range of printmaking techniques, including linocut, lithography, monotype, etching, and aquatint, as well as in oil, acrylic, watercolor, and dry pastel painting.
His creative path evolves in multi-year cycles:
1960s: metaphorical themes
Early 1970s: abstract works; introduced the first happening and installation in Gdańsk (1971)
1973: participated in the Conceptualist “Congress of Dreamers” in Elbląg
Late 1970s: developed structuralist magical realism
1980s: created multistructural, planar compositions based on Goethe’s color theory
1989–1995: a politically engaged period rejecting spectral colors in favor of metallic hues; worked simultaneously on postmodern cycles such as American, Borderland, and Aboriginal
From 1995: shifted unexpectedly to realist painting (still lifes, landscapes, portraits), while continuing postmodern cycles on architectural and anthropomorphic themes
Since 2003: developed an ongoing erotic-themed cycle in both painting and graphic media
Tumielewicz has held over 131 solo exhibitions and participated in 389 group exhibitions, including 78 international shows.
Notable participations include:
International Print Biennale in Kraków (1971, 1984, 1997, 2000)
National Graphic Arts Exhibitions in Katowice (1997, 2000)
“Color in Graphics” exhibitions in Toruń (1982–1997)
Contemporary Painting Festivals in Szczecin (1972, 1974, 1978, 1998, 2000)
Still Life Reviews in Sieradz (1997, 2000)
Portrait and Self-Portrait Triennale in Radom
His works are held in major museums across Poland, including in Bydgoszcz, Gdańsk, Poznań, Zielona Góra, Katowice, Elbląg, Frombork, and Chełm, as well as in international collections in Kuopio (Finland), Hanoi (Vietnam), and numerous private collections in Poland and abroad.
