Strumiłło was active in painting, graphic art, sculpture, photography, book design and illustration, theatre design, and poetry.
Born in Vilnius in 1927, he studied at the Fine Arts Academies in Łódź and Kraków.
As a designer of Polish pavilions for commercial exhibitions in China, India, Nepal, Japan, and Thailand, he was able to travel far and wide, documenting his journeys in drawing and photography and gathering a rich collection of local art. He had numerous one-man shows in Poland and abroad.
In the early 1980s he headed the design studio at the UN Secretariat in New York. He turned down an offer to extend his contract and returned to Poland, settling down in the village of Maćkowa Ruda in north-eastern Poland, “the closest I could get to my beloved Vilnius”, as he used to say.
He rebuilt an old farmhouse in the style of the country manors of Poland’s borderland region. It served as a centre for a wide range of cultural events and initiatives. Strumiłło also did a great deal to promote art and assist young talent in the local community.
In 2008, a gallery housing Strumiłło’s paintings, sculpture, drawings, photos, as well as a part of his Asian collection, opened in Suwałki, a town in north-eastern Poland which in 2002 made him its honorary citizen.
(mk/pk)