“Zbigniew Lengren. A Humorist” – exhibition

Lengrenówka is the former studio and flat of Zbigniew Lengren, which the Museum of Caricature has transformed into a space for meetings, education and small artistic events. The Museum’s quarters was opened after a renovation that lasted almost five years. An intimate exhibition recalls a selection of Lengren’s works – drawings, medieval jokes, a selection from the series on Professor Filutek and less-known photographic jokes, which he referred to as ‘photo-illustrations’. The exhibition, arranged in the space of the artist’s former flat, is a tribute to Zbigniew Lengren, as well as a signal that we remember him and want this memory to last. Zbigniew Lengren was a well-known and popular cartoonist, illustrator and author of satirical texts. In 1944, he made his debut as a cartoonist, cooperating with the satirical periodicals “Stańczyk” and “Żołnierz Polski”. During his student years, he joined cabaret and cooperated with the weekly magazines “Przekrój” and “Szpilki”. In the Toruń-Bydgoszcz radio station, he co-created the programme “Saturday after work” and hosted a Sunday programme “Song of the Jungle”. He drew for magazines: “Film”, “Ilustrowany Kurier Polski”, “Kaktus” (1959), “Mucha” (1949), “Playboy”, “Przekrój” (“Profesor Filutek” series in the years 1948-2003), “Rózgi” (1946), “Szpilki”, “Świat” (1952-1968), “Trybuna Robotnicza” (Sunday cartoon column). The artist’s first major publication, 100 cartoon jokes (1956), with an introduction by Kazimierz Rudzki, brought him great popularity. introduction by Kazimierz Rudzki. He became famous as the creator of the character of Professor Filutek in Przekrój. An important part of his oeuvre is his work for children – both books with his illustrations as well as illustrations of his own works. Lengren also drew caricatures portraits (mainly of artists, actors, writers) and “lyrical portraits” or “heads from imagination”, as he called them. He was also involved in photography. He created and exhibited photographic jokes, which he called “photo-illustrations”. Lengren said of himself that he was not a satirist: “My drawings are rather benevolent, images of human relations, and sometimes purely humorous pranks”. He called himself a humourist. He did not want his activity to be reduced to drawing – he was concerned with comedy, putting his ideas into practice in various fields. He wrote scripts for theatre and television programmes, texts of cabaret sketches, short stories, limericks and epigrams. He was a multi-talented man.He created small literary forms: poems, aphorisms and literary parodies, he was a lyricist, actor, and stage designer, e.g. at the Satirical Theatre and the Buffo Satirical Theatre, where he drew live to the to the beat of the music, what he called ‘meloplastics’. He designed theatre posters, film posters, propaganda and commercial posters. From the late 1950s, he collaborated with TVP, hosting programmes: “Tele-Mele” cabaret, “Black humour in Polish”, “Żartoteka”. Editor of the Entertainment Department of TVP and author of bedtime programmes for children (adaptation of texts, stage design). He was co-author of animated films, including films with Filutek (‘Profesor Filutek in the Park’, ‘Professor Filutek’s Strange Dream’ and ‘A Splash in the Park’, as well as ‘Professor Filutek’s Duel’ (1957). Lengren did not call himself an artist. As Elżbieta Laskowska wrote: “He preferred to be referred to a ‘craftsman’ of jokes, humour drawings and illustrations. He drew for others, not for himself. He used to say that he was performing ‘a service of sorts’. Where did he get his ideas from? He often answered, quoting the words of Erik Lipinski: “I get ideas from my head, that is, from nothing”, only to add a moment later: “I am simply creative”. Moreover, Lengren, an enthusiast of the art of filmmaking, believed that “directing is necessary, because every drawing is a scene”.

Languages: Polish, English, Ukrainian