# Franciszek Starowieyski artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/franciszek-starowieyski/
Profile generated: 2026-05-23T19:35:00.000Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1930-07-08
- Death date: 2009-02-23
- Nationality: Polish
- Movements: Polish Poster School
- Common media: poster, drawing, painting, stage design, book illustration

## About Franciszek Starowieyski

Franciszek Starowieyski (1930–2009) was a Polish painter, poster designer, illustrator, and stage designer whose career spanned more than five decades. Born in Kraków and trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków and Warsaw under Wojciech Weiss, Starowieyski became one of the most distinctive figures of the Polish Poster School, a movement that elevated graphic poster design into a recognized art form. His visual language departed from both the socialist realism mandated in postwar Poland and the bright decorative style of popular Cyrk posters, favoring instead surreal, heavily drawn compositions with theatrical and allegorical imagery. A member of the Alliance Graphique International, he produced celebrated posters for theater, film, and cultural events, alongside book illustrations, stage designs, and drawings that circulated widely in Poland and France. Collectors encounter Starowieyski's work across posters, original works on paper, paintings, and stage-related art.

## Common works and media

Collectors most commonly encounter Starowieyski's printed posters for theater, film, and cultural events, often produced through Polish state printing workshops. Original drawings in ink, charcoal, or mixed media, easel paintings, stage and set designs, and book illustrations also appear on the market. Works range from large-format exhibition and cinema posters to smaller-scale illustrations and works on paper.

## Market and appraisal context

Starowieyski's works appear at auction primarily as posters, drawings, and prints. Original paintings and drawings generally carry more value than printed poster editions, though significant theater and film posters can achieve strong results due to the artist's international reputation within the Polish Poster School tradition. Provenance, condition, whether a work is an original or print, and the specific commission context all influence appraisal. Auction records for Polish poster artists are less extensive than for Western contemporaries, so comparable lots and specialist review are important for accurate valuation.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from authority files and institutional sources with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Franciszek Starowieyski, identity data is grounded in the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, Getty ULAN, VIAF, Library of Congress, Wikidata, and Wikipedia.

## Sources

- RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/74735
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q936876
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franciszek_Starowieyski
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500064153
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/96119947/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n87811736
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/5607