Nikifor Krynicki

Nikifor, born Epifaniusz Drowniak, lived from approximately 1895 to 1968. He was born in Krynica. He was a Lemko; he dealt with naive painting, he was self-taught. He suffered from hearing and speech disorders, had never studied at any school, and could not write or read. His real passion and way of communicating with the world was painting. He started painting at an early age - the artist's oldest known works date back to before 1920. He painted in watercolor, also using a pencil. He used every available piece of paper, notebook covers, cigarette packaging, etc. He created entire series of pictures - touchingly naive depictions of architecture, landscapes, saints, and portraits. He often signed his works with incomprehensible strings of "printed" letters and glued frames made of colored paper to them. His work was noticed already in the 1930s (Kapists), but the real discovery of the Nikifor phenomenon took place only after the war, when he was cared for and admitted to ZPAP. In 1962 he received the surname Krynicki. Convinced of the importance of his art, he also used the nickname Matejko.