About Jan Lenica
Lived 1928 – 2001 (aged 73). Jan Lenica was a Polish poster artist, painter, graphic designer, animator, university teacher and postage stamp designer.
Jan Lenica (January 4, 1928 – October 5, 2001) was a Polish graphic designer and cartoonist.
Biography A graduate of the Architecture Department of Warsaw Polytechnic, Lenica became a poster illustrator and a collaborator on the early animation films of Walerian Borowczyk. From 1963 to 1986, he lived and worked in France, while from 1987 he lived and worked in Berlin. He was a professor of graphic, poster, animated cartoon for many years at German high schools and the first professor of the animation class at the University of Kassel, Germany, in 1979. He used cut-out stop motion animation in his numerous films, which included two features: Adam 2 (1968) and Ubu et la grande gidouille (1976, but released in France only in 1979).
Major awards 1960 - Nominated for a BAFTA Film Award for Dom. Shared with Polish Walerian Borowczyk 1961 - Toulouse-Lautrec Grand Prix, Versailles (France) 1961 - Golden Dragon for Nowy Janko Muzykant tied with Mały Western, Cracow (Poland) 1962 - 1st and 3rd prizes, International Film Poster Exhibition, Karlove Vary (Czech Republic) 1963 - Annecy International Animated Film Festival / FIPRESCI Prize for Labirynt 1964 - Honorable Mention for Die Nashörner in Oberhausen International Short Film Festival (Germany) 1966 - Gold Medal Prix Max Ernst, International Poster Biennale, Warsaw (Poland) 1971 - Gold Medal, International Tourism Poster Exhibition, Catania (Italy) 1985 - Prix Jules Chéret (France) 1987 - Graphics award, Children Book Fair, Bologna (Italy) 1999 - Dragon of Dragons Honorary Awards in Cracow Film Festival (Poland)
Directions Jan Lenica was the director of: 1957 - Nagrodzone uczucia (Love Requited) 1957 - Był sobie raz... (Once Upon a Time...) 1958 - Dom (House) 1961 - Italia '61 1961 - Nowy Janko Muzykant 1963 - 1965 - La Femme Fleur 1965 - A 1965 - Rhinoceros 1970 - Adam 2 1987 - Ubu et la Grande Gidouille 2001 - Wyspa R.O.
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Important facts
People in Jan Lenica's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
Contemporaries
People whose lives overlapped Jan Lenica's
Frequently asked questions
Who was Jan Lenica?
Polish graphic designer and cartoonist (1928–2001)
When was Jan Lenica born?
Jan Lenica was born on 4 January 1928 in Poznań.
When did Jan Lenica die?
Jan Lenica died on 5 October 2001 in Berlin.
What was Jan Lenica's occupation?
Jan Lenica was a poster artist, painter, graphic designer, animator, university teacher and postage stamp designer.
What nationality was Jan Lenica?
Jan Lenica was Polish.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Jan Lenica. https://biography.guide/jan-lenica/
MLA: "Jan Lenica." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/jan-lenica/.
Chicago: "Jan Lenica." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/jan-lenica/.
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