Tadeusz Jackowski (1936) - Muchy - Moscas

Author: Tadeusz Jackowski
Birth: 1936, Bruges, Belgium
Nationality/School: Polish
Title: Muchy - “Moscas” - probable reading
Dating: second half of the 20th century, probably the 1960s–1970s
Technique: etching and color aquatint on paper
Edition: “E/A – 14/30”
Signature: pencil-signed “T. Jackowski,” on the lower right margin
Other inscriptions: manuscript title on the lower left margin; small monogram engraved in the matrix
Framed dimensions: 40.5 × 30.5 cm
Print dimensions: approximately 13.5 × 13 cm
Country of origin: Poland
Period: 1900–2000
Style to select: Surrealism

Colored print with a surreal and highly graphic composition, organized around a large human eye rendered in red and black tones. The face appears fragmented and partially metamorphosed, combining anatomical elements, animal shapes, mechanical structures, and nerve-like lines radiating through space.

At the top there is an insect resembling a fly, an element that supports the reading of the Polish title Muchy. The overlay of profiles, jaws, eyes, teeth, and undefined structures creates an unsettling image, close to the fantastical and psychological universe characteristic of a portion of post-war Central European graphic art.

The execution combines extremely fine incisive drawing, densely worked areas, and color accents in red-wine, blue, green, ochre, and black. The image reveals mastery of metal engraving techniques and a language simultaneously surrealist, expressionist, and grotesque.

Tadeusz Jackowski is a Polish engraver born in 1936, trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. He developed mainly graphic work and participated in more than 150 Polish and international exhibitions. There are works in etching, aquatint, and mezzotint with similar editions of 30 copies. A documented 1964 work also features etching and color aquatint with numbering 14/30, a coincidence particularly relevant to this identification.

Condition report - The paper shows: generalized yellowing; scattered foxing; small stains, dirt, and humidity marks; oxidation visible also in the passe-partout. The print is structurally complete, without tears.