Franciszek Bunsch
Franciszek Bunsch (9 August 1926 – 23 March 2025) was a Polish painter and graphic artist. He was part of the Kraków school of workshop graphics and was known for his metaphorical view of reality. Bunsch spent many years as a lecturer and professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. He was the son of painter Adam Bunsch and the younger brother of set designer Ali Bunsch.
Bunsch illustrated books and designed graphics for publications. He created woodcuts for J. de la Madelène's Pan na Piaskowy Zamku, which won second prize at the 2nd National Exhibition of Books and Illustrations in Warsaw in 1955. He also contributed to Mickiewicz's Ballads and Romances, which received a distinction at the National Competition for illustrations to Adam Mickiewicz’s works in 1956. He worked on Tadeusz Kudliński's The Mask and the Face of the Theatre (1963) with his wife, painter Krystyna Bunsch-Gruchalska, and illustrated the ancient trilogy Olimpias, Parmenion, Aleksander with Karol Bunsch.
From 1960 to 1980 he designed a series of playing cards produced on a large scale by Krakowskie Zakłady Wyrobów Papierowych, now the Trefl Playing Card Company, which became part of the canon of Polish card designs.
Bunsch died on 23 March 2025 at the age of 98.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 18:54 (CET).