The opening of the painting and drawing exhibition Ryszard Jethon took place on Friday, September 13, at the Michał Twerd Gallery (II Liceum Ogólnokształcące in Bolesławiec, Dolne Młyny Street). Among those attending the vernissage were Senator of the Republic of Poland Jan Michalski, historian and head of the Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Bolesławca Zygmunt Brusiło, director of the Muzeum Ceramiki Anna Bober-Tubaj, distinguished artist Krystyna Gay-Kutschenreiter, long-serving director of the Bolesławiecki Ośrodek Kultury Danuta Maślicka, and Michał Twerd, the gallery’s patron.
At Ryszard Jethon’s request, Zygmunt Brusiło spoke and presented the artist’s profile. “These works are beautiful paintings by a great and talented architect,” said the TPB president. “I would like his biography to appear in the next issue of the ‘Rocznik Bolesławiecki’,” he added.
“An artist’s soul is revealed by his paintings. Of course, it is different when one paints someone’s portrait, because then the work must bring out the soul of the person portrayed,” Ryszard Jethon said during the exhibition opening. “I would like you to look at these paintings through the prism of my development. Some were created this year, others date from several years ago, and still others from fifteen years ago. Art is like poetry. The latter existed even when there were no poets. Poets merely arranged it in a very beautiful way, using rhyme or poetic prose. What matters, however, is that art is always created by people.”
Ryszard Jethon (born in 1943 in Austria). Graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at Wrocław University of Technology. He has long been associated with Bolesławiec (he worked at the Bolesławieckie Przedsiębiorstwo Budowlane, served as county architect and director of the Wojewódzkie Biuro Planowania Przestrzennego). Together with his colleagues, he prepared Bolesławiec’s spatial development plan and supervised its implementation.
After an overseas contract—because martial law was in force in Poland at the time—he remained abroad, in Germany. He worked there as an architect and urban planner. He is now retired.
Alongside his professional work, he continued his artistic pursuits, using various painting techniques. His favorites are oil on canvas, charcoal drawing and watercolor. In his paintings, he tries to convey the expressiveness of light and line.
He has presented his works at several exhibitions in Darmstadt, Hattersheim and Bad Soden am Taunus. He twice took part in the nationwide plein-air painting workshop for teachers in Przytok.
(information: II LO in Bolesławiec/ii)