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Jan de Weryha-Wysoczański

Jan de Weryha standing in front of his work “Wooden Panel” (2001). Various types of wood, nails, 412 x 216 x 18 cm. Taken in the de Weryha Collection, Hamburg, 2014
©
Foto: Rafał Hugo de Weryha-Wysoczański

No other important abstract modernist artist has worked so consistently in wood as the German-Polish sculptor Jan de Weryha. His ground works, freestanding objects and wall reliefs created over the last twenty years, as well as the two monuments he has designed, serve as a résumé of numerous movements in abstract art since the beginning of the 20th century. However, he has only used these styles – from Constructivism to Concrete Art, ZERO, Minimal and Post Minimal Art to contemporary installation art – as a source for extracting tendencies that have enabled him to present the material of his choice, wood, its structural diversity and its aesthetics, objectively and in accordance with artistic traditions. At the same time he has introduced new solutions in wood to all these styles. Born in 1950 in Gdańsk/Danzig and resident in Hamburg since 1981, Jan de Weryha, who studied at the Academy of Art in Gdańsk, has thus made an important contribution to abstract modernism. His work to the present day is presented here for the first time in its entirety and in over one hundred illustrations.

Mediathek Sorted

Media library
  • ill. 1: untitled, 1997 - untitled, 1997. Basswood 299 x 241 x 26 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 2: untitled, 1997 - untitled, 1997. Alder, 104 x 20 x 15 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 3: untitled, 1997 - untitled, 1997. Various types of wood, 228 x 84 x 51 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 4: untitled, 1997 - untitled, 1997. Various types of wood, 119 x 111 x 28 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 5: untitled, 1997 - untitled, 1997. Larch wood, 245 x 164 x 88 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 6: untitled, 1997 - untitled, 1997. Maple, 463 x 125 x 15 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 7: untitled, 1997 - untitled, 1997. Oak, 100 x 38 x 4.5 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 8: untitled, 1998 - untitled, 1998. Various types of wood, 248 x 222 x 14 cm (1st Prize, Prix du Jury, at the Salon de Printemps 98 – European Competition for Contemporary Art –, Luxemburg 1998), de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 9: untitled, 1998 - untitled, 1998. Various types of wood, 450 x 230 x 56 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 10: untitled, 1998 - untitled, 1998. Maple, 90 x 75 x 39 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 11: untitled, 1998 - untitled, 1998. Basswood, 175 x 75 x 18 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 12: untitled, 1999 - untitled, 1999. Basswood, 251 x 140 x 34 cm, National Museum in Stettin/Muzeum Narodowe w Szczecinie
  • ill. 13: untitled, 1999 - untitled, 1999. Maple, 500 x 190 x 15 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 14: untitled, 1999 - untitled, 1999. Oak, 132 x 115 x 12 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 15: untitled, 1999 - untitled, 1999. Various types of wood, cardboard boxes, 320 x 145 x 27 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 16: untitled, 1999 - untitled, 1999. Various types of wood, 356 x 356 x 14 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 17: untitled, 1999 - untitled, 1999. Larch, 1140 x 120 x 55, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 18a: Neuengamme Memorial, 1999 - Neuengamme Memorial, 1999. 30 roughly hewn granite blocks on a 24 m² area of polished granite slabs, granite gravel path. Commissioned by the Bund der Polen in Deutschland e.V. In memory of the persons deported from the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, Neuengamme
  • ill. 18b: Neuengamme Memorial, 1999 - Neuengamme Memorial, 1999. Commissioned by the Bund der Polen in Deutschland e.V. In memory of the persons deported from the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, Neuengamme concentration camp, Hamburg, Polish memorial plaque
  • ill. 18c: Neuengamme Memorial, 1999 - Neuengamme Memorial, 1999. Commissioned by the Bund der Polen in Deutschland e.V. In memory of the persons deported from the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, Neuengamme concentration camp, Hamburg, German memorial plaque
  • ill. 19: untitled, 2000 - untitled, 2000. Maple, 120 x 120 x 36 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 20: untitled, 2000 - untitled, 2000. Oak, charcoaled, 220 x 60 x 58 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 21: untitled, 2000 - untitled, 2000. Willow, 220 x 58 x 58 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 22: untitled, 2000 - untitled, 2000. Various types of wood, 195 x 195 x 15 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 23: untitled, 2000 - untitled, 2000. Basswood, 97 x 97 x 29 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 24: untitled, 2000 - untitled, 2000. Chestnut, partly with bark, 260 x 140 x 56 cm, Museum of Modern Art, Radom/Muzeum Sztuki Współczesnej w Radomiu
  • ill. 25: untitled, 2000 - untitled, 2000. Bark, 90 x 90 x 34 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 26: untitled, 2000 - untitled, 2000. Willow, 90 x 90 x 35 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 27: untitled, 2000 - untitled, 2000. Basswood, 200 x 197 x 55 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 28: Wooden Panel, 2001 - Wooden Panel, 2001. Various types of wood, partially charcoaled, nails, 412 x 220 x 17 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 29: untitled, 2001 - untitled, 2001. Maple, 156 x 156 x 26 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 30: untitled, 2001 - untitled, 2001. Various types of wood, 350 x 106 x 43 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 31: Wooden Panel, 2001 - Wooden Panel, 2001. Various types of wood, nails, 412 x 216 x 18 cm (Detail), de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 32: Wooden Panel, 2001 - Wooden Panel, 2001. Spruce, charcoaled, birch, nails, 470 x 240 x 17 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 33: Wooden Panel, 2002 - Wooden Panel, 2002. Spruce, charcoaled, oak, maple, bark, 404 x 204 x 26 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 34: Wooden Panel, 2002 - Wooden Panel, 2002. Maple, charcoaled, 100 x 100 x 9 cm, Królikowski-Collection, Dąbrówka Wielka/Poland
  • ill. 35: Wooden Panel, 2002 - Wooden Panel, 2002. Spruce, charcoaled, bark, nails, 310 x 100 x 7 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 36: Wooden Panel, 2002 - Wooden Panel, 2002. Spruce, patinated, oak bark, 106 x 106 x 20 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 37: Wooden Panel, 2002 - Wooden Panel, 2002. Spruce, charcoaled, maple, 101 x 101 x 9 cm (Detail), de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 38: Wooden pillar, 2003 - Wooden pillar, 2003. Bark, wood, 285 x 100 x 100 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 39: Wooden Panel, 2003 - Wooden Panel, 2003. Bark, 253 x 200 x 11 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 40: Wooden Cube, 2003 - Wooden Cube, 2003. Various types of wood, 230 x 230 x 230 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 41: untitled, 2003 - untitled, 2003. Various types of wood, 880 x 220 x 16 cm (Detail), de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 42: Wooden Panel, 2003 - Wooden Panel, 2003. Various types of wood, 440 x 220 x 16 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 43: Wooden Panel, 2003 - Wooden Panel, 2003. Spruce, charcoaled, Various types of wood, nails, 150 x 150 x 9 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 44: Wooden Panel, 2003 - Wooden Panel, 2003. Spruce charcoaled, bark, nails, 150 x 150 x 9 cm, Centre for Polish Sculpture, Orońsko/Centrum Rzeźby Polskiej w Orońsku
  • ill. 45: untitled, 2004 - untitled, 2004. Spruce charcoaled, nails, 150 x 150 x 18 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 46: untitled, 2004 - untitled, 2004. Spruce charcoaled, bark, nails, 156 x 156 x 8 cm, Privately owned: Dr. S. Ropohl, Hamburg
  • ill. 47: untitled, 2005 - untitled, 2005. Various types of wood, 284 x 39 x 20 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 48: untitled, 2005 - untitled, 2005. Poplar, 320 x 320 x 40 cm, Owner: Galeria Szyb Wilson, Kattowitz
  • ill. 49: untitled, 2005 - untitled, 2005. Various types of wood, 480 x 280 x 45 cm (Detail). de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 50: Artwork on Architecture, 2005 - Artwork on Architecture, 2005. Robinia, 25 m2, Height 45 cm, Gymnasium Eckhorst, Bargteheide
  • ill. 51: untitled, 2006 - untitled, 2006. Birch, 900 x 240 x 14 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 52: Wooden Panel, 2006 - Wooden Panel, 2006. Various types of wood, 890 x 234 x 15 cm (Detail), de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 53: Orońsko, 2006 - Orońsko, 2006. Birch, 900 x 900 x 50 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 54: Wooden Object, 2006 - Wooden Object, 2006. Branches, 220 x 170 x 40 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 55: Wooden Object, 2006 - Wooden Object, 2006. Branches, 235 x 170 x 43 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 56: Wooden Object, 2006 - Wooden Object, 2006. Various types of wood, 280 x 243 x 55 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 57: Wooden Object, 2006 - Wooden Object, 2006. Birch branches, 310 x 310 x 220 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 58: Wooden Panel, 2007 - Wooden Panel, 2007. Spruce, charcoaled, reeds, 82 x 82 x 9 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 59: untitled, 2007 - untitled, 2007. Spruce, charcoaled, 700 x 200 x 10 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 60: Wooden Object, 2008 - Wooden Object, 2008. Birch, 900 x 900 x 43 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 61: Wooden Object, 2008 - Wooden Object, 2008. Various types of wood, 800 x 800 x 18 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 62: Wooden Panel, 2009 - Wooden Panel, 2009. Spruce, charcoaled, maple, 101 x 101 x 20 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 63: Wooden Panel, 2009 - Wooden Panel, 2009. Spruce, charcoaled, twigs, 101 x 101 x 10 cm (Detail), de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 64: Wooden Panel, 2010 - Wooden Panel, 2010. Oak, nails, 140 x 140 x 11 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 65: untitled, 2010 - untitled, 2010. Bark, 243 x 170 x 53 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 66: Wooden Panel, 2010 - Wooden Panel, 2010. Spruce, charcoaled, wood stems, 25.5 x 25.5 x 8 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 67: Chilehaus five lines, 2011 - Chilehaus five lines, 2011. Birch, 9000 x 230 x 14 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 68: Wooden Panel, 2011 - Wooden Panel, 2011. Spruce, lavender, 34 x 34 x 8.5 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 69: Wooden Panel, 2011 - Wooden Panel, 2011. Poplar, 50 x 50 x 18 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 70: Wooden Panel, 2011 - Wooden Panel, 2011. Spruce, charcoaled, spruce needles, 28 x 28 x 11.5 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 71: Wooden Panel, 2012 - Wooden Panel, 2012. Poplar, 50 x 50 x 8.5 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 72a: Bergedorf Memorial, 2012 - Bergedorf Memorial, 2012. To the memory of the forced labourers of the Nazi rule in Bergedorf, on the initiative of the AG Gedenken, Schleusengraben-Promenade am Kampdeich in Hamburg-Bergedorf, concrete, stainless steel, H=267 cm, W=127 cm, D=98 cm
  • ill. 72b: Bergedorf Memorial, 2012 - Bergedorf Memorial, 2012. To the memory of the forced labourers of the Nazi rule in Bergedorf, on the initiative of the AG Gedenken, Schleusengraben-Promenade am Kampdeich in Hamburg-Bergedorf, concrete, stainless steel, H=267 cm, W=127 cm, D=98 cm
  • ill. 72c: Bergedorf Memorial, 2012 - Bergedorf Memorial, 2012. To the memory of the forced labourers of the Nazi rule in Bergedorf, on the initiative of the AG Gedenken, Schleusengraben-Promenade am Kampdeich in Hamburg-Bergedorf; memorial plaque, bronze, 80 x 80 cm
  • ill. 73: Wooden Panel, 2012 - Wooden Panel, 2012. Poplar, 50 x 50 x 9 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 74: Wooden Panel, 2013 - Wooden Panel, 2013. Spruce, 106 x 102 x 23 cm, Centre for Polish Sculpture, Orońsko/ Centrum Rzeźby Polskiej w Orońsku
  • ill. 75: Wooden Panel, 2013 - Wooden Panel, 2013. Spruce, 104.5 x 104.5 x 12.5 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 76: Wooden Panel, 2013 - Wooden Panel, 2013. Poplar, 50 x 50 x 8.5 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 77: Wooden Panel, 2013 - Wooden Panel, 2013. Cut reeds on wooden board, 50 x 50 x 9.5 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 78: Wooden Panel, 2013 - Wooden Panel, 2013. Spruce, 106 x 104 x 10 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 79: Wooden Panel, 2013 - Wooden Panel, 2013. Spruce, 106 x 104 x 10 cm (Detail), de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 80: Wooden Panel, 2013 - Wooden Panel, 2013. Spruce, broken and cut on wooden board, 120 x 118 x 10.5 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 81: Wooden Object, 2014 - Wooden Object, 2014. Poplar, cut and freely arranged, 400 x 400 x 39 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 82: Wooden Object, 2014 - Wooden Object, 2014. Poplar, cut and broken, wooden dowels, 187 x 187 x 16 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 83: Wooden Object, 2014 - Wooden Object, 2014. Poplar, cut and broken, 119 x 119 x 16 cm, Kunstsammlung Birkel, Hamburg
  • ill. 84: Wooden Object, 2014 - Wooden Object, 2014. Poplar, cut and broken, 119 x 119 x 16 cm (Side view), Kunstsammlung Birkel, Hamburg
  • ill. 85: Wooden Object, 2014 - Wooden Object, 2014. Poplar, cut and broken, 145 x 145 x 10.5 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 86: Wooden Object, 2014 - Wooden Object, 2014. Poplar, cut and broken, 142 x 142 x 21 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 87: Wooden Object, 2015 - Wooden Object, 2015. Spruce, cut and broken, wooden dowels, 135 x 135 x 18 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 88: Wooden Object, 2015 - Wooden Object, 2015. Spruce, cut and broken, wooden dowels, 200 x 200 x 17 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 89: Wooden Object, 2015 - Wooden Object, 2015. Spruce, cut and broken, wooden dowels, 196 x 196 x 10 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 90: Wooden Panel, 2016 - Wooden Panel, 2016. Spruce, cut and broken, 107.5 x 107.5 x 14 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 91: Wooden Panel, 2016 - Wooden Panel, 2016. Spruce, cut and split, 115 x 115 x 8 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 92: Wooden Panel, 2017 - Wooden Panel, 2017. Spruce, cut and split, 115 x 115 x 8 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 93: Wooden Object, 2017 - Wooden Object, 2017. Spruce, cut and broken, wooden dowels, 250 x 198 x 198 cm, de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 94: de Weryha Collection, Hamburg - de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 95: de Weryha Collection, Hamburg - de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 96: de Weryha Collection, Hamburg - de Weryha Collection, Hamburg
  • ill. 97: de Weryha Collection, Hamburg - de Weryha Collection, Hamburg

Jan de Weryha-Wysoczański
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Jan de Weryha standing in front of his work “Wooden Panel” (2001)
Jan de Weryha standing in front of his work “Wooden Panel” (2001). Various types of wood, nails, 412 x 216 x 18 cm. Taken in the de Weryha Collection, Hamburg, 2014
©
Foto: Rafał Hugo de Weryha-Wysoczański

Further reading:

Jan de Weryha-Wysoczański. Holzobjekte 1999-2000, Ausstellungs-Katalog Ehemaliges Ausbesserungswerk der DB, Hamburg 2000. (Including: Helmut R. Leppien: Der Natur gleich nah und fern)

Strenges Holz. Heiner Szamida, Helga Weihs, Jan de Weryha, edited by Daniel Spanke, Ausstellungs-Katalog Kunsthalle Wilhelmshaven, Bielefeld 2004. (Including: Daniel Spanke: Anti-Rustika)

Jan Stanisław Wojciechowski: Jan de Weryha-Wysoczański. Epifanie natury w późno-nowoczesnym świecie. Oiekty z drewna Jana de Weryha-Wysoczańskiego/Epiphanies of nature in late-modern world. Jan de Weryha-Wysoczański’s objects in wood, Ausstellungs-Katalog Galeria Szyb Wilson, Katowice 2005

Jan de Weryha-Wysoczański. Drewno-archiwum, Ausstellungs-Katalog Patio Galeria Sztuki, Łódź 2005. (Including: Urszula Usakowska-Wolff: Archiwum bezczasowej czasowości/Archive of timeless time finiteness)

Mieczysław Szewczuk: Jan de Weryha-Wysoczański, in: Kwartalnik Rzeźby Orońsko, 1-2 (58-59), Orońsko 2005, pages 10-13

Jan de Weryha-Wysoczański. Objawienia w drewnie, Ausstellungs-Katalog Centrum Rzeźby Polskiej w Orońsku/Zentrum für polnische Skulptur, Orońsko 2006. (Including: Mariusz Knorowski: Objawienia w drewnie/Offenbarungen in Holz [Interview with the artist])

Maja Ruszkowska-Mazerant:  Jak powstaje prywatne muzeum? – Rozmowa z Panem Janem de Weryha-Wysoczańskim – A discussion with Jan de Weryha-Wysoczański), in: Purpose – Przedsiębiorczość w kulturze, Nr. 42, March 2008; in English online: Workshop. How is a private museum set up? https://purpose.com.pl/en/archive/mag-nr_42/workshop/mag-how_is_a_private_museum_set_up.html

Dorota Grubba: Gdy postawa staje się formą/When an Approach Becomes a Form, in: EXIT. Nowa sztuka w polsce/New Art in Poland, Nr. 2 (66), Warschau 2006, pages 4112-4115

Magdalena Kościelniak: Jan de Weryha-Wysoczański – Archiwista Drewna, Magisterarbeit an der Kunstfakultät der Universität Rzeszów, 2008 (a German translation can be found on the artist's website)

Tabularium. Jan de Weryha-Wysoczański, Ausstellungs-Katalog Gdańska Galeria Miejska, Gdańsk 2009. Including: Grażyna Tomaszewska-Sobko: W okowach percepcji/In den Fesseln der Wahrnehmung; Katarzyna Rogacka-Michels: Szorstkie drewno/Rough Wood

Aleksandra Warchoł: Wystawa jako dzieło sztuki, na podstawie twórczości Jana de Weryhy-Wysoczańskiego (English: The Exhibition as a work of art, using the works of Jan de Weryha-Wysoczański), a Master's dissertation at the Faculty of Art of the Technological University in Radom/Politechnika Radomska im. Kazimierza Pułaskiego, Radom 2011 (including an interview with the artist. (There is a German translation on the artist's website)

Maryla Popowicz-Bereś: Jan de Weryha-Wysoczański. Monografia artysty, a Master's dissertation at the Department of Pictorial Arts in the University of Rzeszów, 2014. (There is a German translation on the artist's website)

 

Online:

The artist's website with an overview of his work, exhibitions, biography and literature: http://www.de-weryha-art.de/

Sława Ratajczak: Arboretum duszy mojej – o znanym w Niemczech rzeźbiarzu polskim Janie de Weryha-Wysoczańskim (2011), on Polonia Viva, http://poloniaviva.eu/index.php/pl/?option=com_content&view=article&id=125:arboretum-duszy-mojej-o-znanym-w-niemczech-rzebiarzu-polskim-janie-de-weryha-wysoczaskim&catid=9:artyku&Itemid=4

Helga König talking with the artist Jan de Weryha-Wysoczanski (2015), on the interview page Helga König und Peter J. König. Buch, Kultur und Lifestyle, http://interviews-mit-autoren.blogspot.de/2015/03/helga-konig-im-gesprach-mit-dem.html

Jan de Weryha standing in front of his work “Wooden Panel” (2001). Various types of wood, nails, 412 x 216 x 18 cm. Taken in the de Weryha Collection, Hamburg, 2014
©
Foto: Rafał Hugo de Weryha-Wysoczański
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