Album for a friend

Album made up by Stan Ostoja-Kotkowski for his friend Beryl in 1958. All of the pages are painted in watercolour by the artist as a background for his poems which are written in black ink. There are 18 photographs of the couple. The endpapers have red foil paper segments around painted areas. On the front page is an inscription to his friend by the artist: 'To Beryl with love, Stan, Stirling, August 1958'. The album is covered in padded leather with her initials 'B.S. 1958' in gold.

Josef Stanislaw Ostoja-Kotkowski was born in Golub, Poland on the 28 December, 1922. Josef was known as Stan or Ostoja. He migrated to Melbourne in 1949 and settled in Stirling, South Australia in 1955. Ostoja-Kotkowski studied art under Olgierd Vetesko in Poland from 1940-1945; at the Dusseldorf Kunst Akademie in Germany from 1946-1949 and at the National Gallery School in Melbourne under A. Sumner and Sir William Dargie in 1950-1951.

He was a prolific artist of enormous diversity: his work included painting, theatre design, photography, film-making, murals, stained glass, sculpture, computer graphics and laser art. He had a special interest in the use of light and sound and is recognised for his pioneering creative use of modern technology in chromasonics, laser kinetics and 'sound and image' productions. He died on 2 April 1994 in Stirling.

For his artistic achievements Ostoja-Kotkowski was granted many awards including: 1969 Churchill Fellowship; 1971 Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts London; 1973 Australian American Education Association Fellowship; 1991 Polish Order of Cultural Merit and 1992 Order of Australia.

In 2008 the personal archives of Ostoja-Kotkowski were included on the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register. The archives, held also by the Baillieu Library in the University of Melbourne, document the breadth of his work and life, and include items such as photographs, slides, and negatives relating to his various art projects, his migration papers and files relating to his family, friends and career. Ostoja-Kotkowski made a significant impact on the art scene in Australia while overseas he was influential in the development of chromasonics and kinetic art.

'Album for a friend' was nominated for the "staff favourites" exhibition by a member of staff responsible for processing Ostoja-Kotkowski's archives and is a beautiful piece of personal expression by the artist.

Copyright is assigned to the Libraries Board of South Australia with unreserved use by State Library of South Australia customers. 

Permission to use this item for any purpose, including publishing, is not required from the State Library under these conditions of use.

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