(b Siedlce, 1 March 1906; d 19 July 1993). Polish glass artist. Between 1926 and 1930 he attended the Municipal School of Decorative Art and Painting in Warsaw and between 1930 and 1936 studied in the sculpture studio of Tadeusz Breyer (1874–1952) and the painting studio of Tadeusz Pruszkowski (1888–1942) at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. Between 1946 and 1950 he worked at Jozefina glassworks in Lower Silesia, during which period he designed both decorative and useful wares, mainly epergnes and thick-walled crystal vases decorated with spherical ornament in the form of circular and oval flutes as well as wavy and oblique lines. In 1950 he started working as a freelance glass artist using only hand-formed glass. In 1963 he settled permanently in Warsaw, working at glassworks in the suburbs of Warsaw, for example Wolomin, Falenica and Ozarów. Initially, Tomaszewski produced very large vases ruffled with large air bubbles and streaks and slender, thin-walled vases with extremely flared rims or long S-shaped necks. Later, he clearly preferred semi-abstract sculptural work in the form of obelisks with slender points, occasionally surmounted with openwork loops, and oval globes filled with fused sheaves of glass rods or with deep, irregular channels of air. All his work was produced from apparently plain, poor-quality glass with a colour spectrum limited to green, bronze and azure hues. He devised a number of original technical solutions based on extensive knowledge of the inherent characteristics of glass. He produced only one example of each design, although certain themes were explored in dozens of variants. Musical inspiration played an important role in his work, and he frequently emphasized the interrelationship between art and music through the titles of his compositions, for example Rhythms, Preludes and Fugues (Warsaw, N. Mus). His expressive and dynamic work resembles pieces by such artists of the American studio glass movement as Dominick Labino (1910–87) and Marvin Lipofsky (b 1938). Tomaszewski should be regarded as an important, if under-rated, precursor of this movement in Poland.

• Tomaszewski, Henryk Albin
  • Poland, §VIII: Glass