• born in 1931 in Borki Nizinskie, Poland
• immigrated to Canada from Vence, France in 1968
• studied at Gimnazjum and Liceum in Mielec (1945-1950); received a diploma from the Wroclaw PWSSP (Academy of Fine Art) (1950-1956)

click on thumbnails at left to view larger images

When he came to Toronto in 1968 at the age of 37, Kazimir Glaz’s career as a painter and printmaker in Poland was already well established. Jerzy Madeyski, a contemporary of Glaz and a member of the avant-garde during the 1950s and 1960s, has sought to define Glaz’s artistic beliefs during this time, saying, "like us, Glaz was rebelling against social realism. However, we were irritated only by its silly optimism and equally unrefined narration enclosed in an exploited form. Glaz, on the other hand, stood in opposition to the weakness of art in its general dimension" (1997). In 1956 Glaz founded the movement called Sensibilism, springing from his own system of artistic beliefs and place between social realism and the avant-garde, and focussed on the need for artistic individuality and freedom. "In my first Sensibilistic manifesto, published illegally," he wrote in 1993, "I tried to express the new values in art such as openness, the need for free interpretation, and all that which gives the artist freedom to create." In the late 1950s Glaz and his following created the first Sensibilist spectacles in Wroclaw, performance works that were a part of what later became the international movement in "happenings," also called Fluxus. In 1962, while living in Poland, Glaz visited Moscow and Leningrad, which resulted in the series Moscow Impressions, a reworking of Byzantine motifs such as gold layering and triptych forms. As Madeyski stated, the Byzantine icon is an inspirational source for Glaz, transforming the idea of icon to suit his own needs. "Glaz grasped the universalism of an icon, the fact that it is realistic and abstract at the same time . . . Glaz adopted from Byzantine art its silence, its aversion to narration, its iron logic of construction . . . ." The result is a kind of abstraction that is rich in texture and colour, yet also concerned with the monumentality of recognizable symbols such as the Christ figure. Following his move to Canada, Glaz created Approach III: Esoteric (1968) which revolved around creating his own printmaking technique. In 1969, Glaz was interpreting his new surroundings in a gouache series entitled Transposition of the Canadian Landscape (1969). In 1989 his art was again seen in Poland as his Essence series was exhibited there. Involved in many other projects besides his artwork, Glaz founded the Toronto Centre for Contemporary Art in 1969, a public art gallery of which he has since been director. He was also responsible, through the Centre, for Community Art Collections, a project that set up the permanent display of artwork in public schools. In 1996, he organized an exhibition in Toronto of drawings by the students of the Wroclaw Art School, 1952-1956, work that he happened to save following a school show when he was a student there, work that had not been seen for forty years. Recognized at the National Art Show in Sopot, Poland, he was chosen to represent Poland at the IV International Biennial of Paris in 1966, where he was awarded the Marc Chagall Prize. Glaz was also awarded a main prize at the Ontario competition for best original print in 1972, and received a gold medal at the VII International Print Biennial in Krakow, Poland in 1978.

Master Andrei of Lublin, Sensibilistic Notes from a Trip to Poland in 1995
Toronto Centre for Contemporary Art, Toronto, Ontario

Cherville and the Meeting on the Piazza San Marco: Sensibilistic Short Stories
Toronto Centre for Contemporary Art, Toronto, Ontario

Pekao Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

Grafika, Rysunek
Toronto Centre for Contemporary Art, Toronto, Ontario

In Quest of an Immaterial World
Toronto Centre for Contemporary Art, Toronto, Ontario

Rencontre sur la Piazza San Marco: histoire sensibiliste-autobiographique
Toronto Centre for Contemporary Art, Toronto, Ontario

Minister of Culture, Heritage and Citizenship, Toronto, Ontario

In Search of Meaning in Silence: Original Lithographs
Toronto Centre for Contemporary Art, Toronto, Ontario

National Museum, Wroclaw, Poland

Galerie Transposition, Paris, France

Polniche Kunst
Dresden, Germany

International Triennale of Drawing
Wroclaw, Poland

L'Estampe aujourd`hui
Bibliothèque nationale, Paris, France

IV  International Biennial of Paris
Paris, France

---. Indian Greetings From Caughnawaga. Toronto, Ontario: Toronto Centre for Contemporary Art, 1988.

---. In Search of Meaning In Silence: Original Lithographs. Toronto, Ontario: Centre for Contemporary Art, 1978.

---. Kazimir Glaz: In Quest of an Immaterial World. Toronto, Ontario: Toronto Centre for Contemporary Art, 1988.

---. Krakowskie  Impresje: W XXX Rocznice Sensibilismu. Toronto, Ontario: Toronto Centre for Contemporary Art, 1987.

---. Master Andrei of Lublin, Sensibilistic Notes From A Trip to Poland in 1995. Toronto, Ontario: Toronto Centre for Contemporary Art, 1995.

---. Meeting on the Piazza San Marco, Venice, 1985: An Autobiographical Short Story/ With Thirteen Woodblocks [sic] Prints Representing the Artist's Work From the Essence Series. Toronto, Ontario: Toronto Centre for Contemporary Art, 1987.

---. Rencontre sur la Piazza San Marco: histoire sensibiliste-autobiographique. Toronto: Toronto Centre for Contemporary Art, 1988.

Gombrowicz w Vence, i inne wspomnienia / Kazimir Glaz. Toronto: Toronto Centre for Contemporary Art, c.1984-1985.

Kazimir Glaz, 44 Sketches from Germany, 1963. Toronto, Ontario: Toronto Centre For Contemporary Art, 1996.

Kazimir Glaz: Gouaches. Toronto, Ontario: Toronto Center for Contemporary Art, 1994.

Kazimir Glaz, Sandomierz, 1991. Toronto, Ontario: Toronto Centre for Contemporary Art, 1991.

Madeyski, Jerzy. Kazimir Glaz: The Essence Series. Toronto, Ontario: Toronto Center for Contemporary Art, 1997.

Matynia, Andrejz. Kazimir Glaz: The Essence / European Touring Show. Toronto, Ontario: Toronto Centre for Contemporary Art, 1990.

Murray, Joan, and Jennifer C. Watson. The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa: Permanent Collection. Oshawa, Ontario: The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 1978.

Nasby, Judith M. The University of Guelph Art Collection; A Catalogue of Paintings, Drawings, Prints and Sculpture. Guelph, Ontario: Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, 1980.

Piatek, Artur. "A Byzantine Stucture in Kazimir Glaz's Paintings." M.A. Thesis, PWSSP, Wroclaw, Poland, 1995.