Paweł Grabarczyk studied graphic design at the School of Fine Arts, Łódź, Poland (1983). He designed or co-designed costumes for a range of film productions, including: Ryszard Ber’s Kanclerz and Żelazną ręką, Andrzej Żuławski’s Boris Godunov, Blue Note and She-Shaman, Juliusz Machulski’s Szwadron and Killer, and Wojciech Smarzowski’s Hatred. Other film credits include Jerzy Hoffman’s With Fire and Sword and An Ancient Tale, Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s Quo vadis, Andrzej Wajda’s Master Thaddeus, Jerzy Antczak’s Chopin: Desire for LOve, Jerzy Wójcik’s The Gateway of Europe.
Theatre, opera, ballet, and television play credits include: Krzysztof Nazar's stagings of Wyspiański’s The Wedding (Powszechny Theatre, Warsaw) and Słowacki’s Father Marek (television play), as well as Andrzej Seweryn’s Richard II (National Theatre, Warsaw). With Magdalena Tesławska, he designed costumes for Mariusz Treliński’s productions of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly (Warsaw, Washington, Saint Petersburg, Tel Aviv), Szymanowski’s King Roger, Verdi’s Otello (Warsaw), Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades (Berlin, Warsaw), and Giordan’s Andrei Chénier (Poznań, Warsaw, Washington).
For the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera, Mr Grabarczyk designed sets for the following ballet productions: Alpha Kryonia Xe choreographed by Jacek Przybyłowicz (2006), Harnasie choreographed by Emil Wesołowski, Symphony No. 3 ’Song of the Night’ choreographed by Jacek Przybyłowicz, and Stabat Mater choreohraphed by Ewa Wycichowska (part of the programme Szymanowski and Dance, 2006), as well as Moniuszko’s Verbum nobile and Tansman's Le Serment (part of the programme Two Words, 2009).
He also designed costumes for Wojciech Kępczyński’s production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom at the Opera for the Roma Music Theatre, Warsaw; Laco Adamik’s staging of Penderecki’s The Devils of Loudun for the Kraków Opera (2008), Emil Wesołowski’s choreography Cain and Abel, and Jacek Przybyłowicz’s ballet Six Wings of Angels (part of the programme Biblical Parables, Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera, 2012). Mr Grabarczyk also designed sets for one of the two pieces making up Emil Wesołowski’s ballet double bill Chopinart+ for the Baltic Opera (2012). His graphic art has been exhibited at home and abroad, in France, Spain, Japan, and the USA.
(photo: P. Grabarczyk)