Harry Wysocki – Vintage Astrological Art
Harry Wysocki, (A.F.P.A.A.), 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.
Harry’s Astrological Art shown in this portfolio was originally created in the 1960’s and was recently carefully restored by his daughter. The Artwork and Poetry focuses on the mythology of each sign, alluding to the astrological traits, with references to the genesis of the individual constellations and the machinations of the ancient gods.