Heronim
Harry Wysocki, (A.F.P.A.A.), AKA Heronim was prominent on the American art scene for many years. He was born in a Polish-American neighborhood in Detroit and later moved to Los Angeles, where he graduated from Art Center College of Design. Shortly after the end of World War II, Harry enlisted in the Merchant Marines and sailed the high seas to exotic ports, which became subject matter for his early works. In Japan he was commissioned to paint the History of the Army Airborne Engineers, which he executed in a series of six murals. Working with Japanese artists, he was inspired by the art of Hiroshige, whose influence is apparent in his early works. After returning home from Japan, he started experimenting with art nouveau and art deco styles.
His work has been exhibited in the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Museum of Science and Industry in Los Angeles, and the San Francisco de Young Museum. Numbered among his many accolades are nineteen national and local awards from print shows in New York, Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Three of his prints are now in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., as well as one painting in the United States Air Force Art Collection. He had one-man and group shows at the Charles Hecht Gallery in Palm Springs and Tarzana, the Nelson Rockefeller Gallery in Palm Springs, the Ester Wells Gallery in Laguna Beach, the Touche Gallery in Laguna Beach, the I.A.C. Gallery in Los Angeles, the Heritage Gallery in Beverly Hills, the Dyansen Gallery in Beverly Hills, and the Conacher Gallery in San Francisco.
Later in his career, Harry started to use his middle name, Heronim, on his Americana paintings. His prints have been sold in every major country in the world. The Gold Leaf Corporation, official licensee of the Statue of Liberty Restoration Foundation, authorized him to create limited edition prints depicting the unveiling of the statue. A commission by Life Magazine to paint a four foot by seventeen foot mural entitled Children of America was reproduced on seven pages in the John F. Kennedy Memorial Edition of the magazine, published on November 7, 1988. The original is now in the permanent collection of Nationwide Network Bank in Sacramento.
A dichotomy exists in Wysocki’s works as expressed by his ability to paint impressionism along with his fascination for nostalgia. His many collectors appreciate his diversity. He described his Americana paintings as nostalgia: a time before computers, hi-tech movies and fax machines, when traveling by horse and buggy were the mode of transportation. He would find a lighthouse, an old hotel, a railroad station, and then would begin historical research. He delved into archives, haunted old book stores, and talked to old-timers who remembered “the way things were”, and the painting began to evolve. The finished portrayal is history, nostalgia, and fantasy.