photomontage, photo collage, gouache, collage, ink/foil, paper
Dimensions: full sheet: 25 x 35 cm, artwork: 23 x 32 cm, inner dimensions of the mat: 18 x 26 cm
editorial notes on the front, scale along the left edge
editorial stamp on the reverse
Condition
A tear in the upper part of the passe-partout; the paint layer on the foil is cracked and crumbling
Exhibited
“Polish Comics: The Golden Age,” BWA Jelenia Góra, December 19, 2025 – January 19, 2026
Bibliography
1st ed., Nasza Księgarnia, 1976
Biography
Cartoonist, illustrator, and graphic artist; author of comics and books; screenwriter; designer of puppets and sets for puppet theaters. In 1955, he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in the studio of Jan Marcin Szancer, and in the same year he began his artistic career as an art editor at the Nasza Księgarnia publishing house. He collaborated with numerous publishers and magazines for children and young adults—*Miś*, *Płomyczek*, *Płomyk*, and *Świerszczyk*. His illustrations appeared in over 250 books, as well as in *Świat Młodych*. He is the creator of well-known comic book characters—Gapiszon and Kwapiszon, which he created himself, as well as Gucio and Cezar. Gapiszon is one of Poland’s most famous comic book heroes, who has even been adapted for the screen. In Poland, Butenko’s works have repeatedly won the title of “Most Beautiful Book of the Year,” awarded by the Polish Book Publishers Association, as well as the title of “Book of the Year.” He was awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta and the Order of the Smile.
