PRZYBYLSKI Ryszard Kazimierz

Born on 21 January 1949 in Poznan; son of Jan Przybylski and Kazimiera Walczak. He attended Grammar School No. III in Poznan, completing his advanced secondary education there in 1967. He then studied Polish philology at the Adam Mickiewicz University (UAM) in Poznan, graduating with a master's degree in Polish philology in 1972. He was subsequently employed as an assistant, initially at the Department of Philosophy at UAM and then from 1973 at the Department of Literary Theory at the Institute of Polish Philology (IFP). He made his debut in 1973 with a review titled Poznański „Ożenek” (A Poznań "Marriage"), which was published in the weekly "Literatura" (no. 4). It discussed a production of Nikolai Gogol's play at the Polski Theatre in Poznan. That year he also published literary reviews in the bimonthly "Teksty" and in the monthly "Nurt". He continued to publish in the latter periodical intermittently until 1981. He was awarded a doctoral degree from UAM in 1981 for his dissertation Autor i jego sobowtór (The Author and his Doppelgänger), which was supervised by Prof. Jerzy Ziomek. Przybylski was subsequently appointed lecturer. He was interested in contemporary literature and the visual arts, conducting research on the intersections of the two artistic forms, including comics. In the 1980s he published articles and essays in periodicals including the monthlies "Twórczość" (1982 and 1984-85) and "W Drodze" (1983-85 and 1989). He collaborated with émigré periodicals (using the pseudonym Jan Przybor) and with publications appearing in Polish outside the reach of state censorship, including the London-based "Puls" (1984; reprinted in a selection published in Poland in 1987), the Poznan-based "Czas Kultury" (1985) and "Veto" (1985), the Warsaw-based "Almanach Humanistyczny" (1986; using the cryptonym: RKP), and the Wroclaw-based "Obecność". He also authored several contributions to the encyclopaedic guide Literatura polska po 1939 roku (Polish Literature after 1939; Warsaw: 1989; using the initials: rp). He joined the Polish Writers' Association (SPP) in 1989. He was awarded a habilitation degree from UAM in 1991 for his study O prozie Gustawa Herlinga-Grudzińskiego. Być i pisać (Gustaw Herling-Grudziński's Prose: To be and to write) and was subsequently appointed associate professor at the university. From 1992 to 1996 he combined his work as a professor with a directorship of the Poznan gallery Galeria u Jezuitów, which was located on Dominikańska Street. He was co-founder of the painting and poetry periodical "Gazeta Malarzy i Poetów", also joining its editorial board in 1994. His articles, works of criticism and essays appeared in periodicals including "Arkusz" (1991-94 and 1999), the "Ex Libris" supplement of the daily "Życie Warszawy" (1991-92), and "Gazeta Malarzy i Poetów" (1994-95). From 1996 he also lectured at the Academy of Fine Arts (ASP) in Poznan (which in 2010 became the University of the Arts Poznan – UAP). He was initially appointed vice dean of the Faculty of Art Education, while from 1998 to 2002 he was dean of the Faculty of Multimedia Communication. Between 1999 and 2001, he was also head of the Department of Visual Codes and Communications. In 2000, he was made state-appointed professor. From 2001 to 2012 he was head of the Department of Visual Semiotics, which was part of the Chair of Visual Communication at Poznan ASP (and later the University of the Arts Poznan). The Department was initially part of the Faculty of Multimedia Communication, but in 2003 joined the Faculty of Graphics and Visual Communications. In 2009, he was appointed chair of an Association established to gather support for the chair's activities in the fields of education, artistic initiatives and exhibitions, and to disseminate its achievements. He also worked in parallel at the Institute of Polish Philology where, alongside Anna Legeżyńska, he established a seminar series on modernity. From 2009 to 2017 he was head of the Department of Modern Literature and Culture at IFP at UAM, where he remained a member after his term as head ended. He was a member of the Chapter of the Artistic Prize established by Poznan City Council (serving in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007). He has two daughters, Noemi (born 1976) and Nelli (born 1980). He lives in Poznan.