Caziel (born Kazimierz Józef Zielenkiewicz; 16 June 1906 – 25 August 1988) was a Polish artist who lived and worked in Paris during the inter-war period and who worked alongside a number of important figures of the School of Paris, including Pablo Picasso and the art dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler.
Then a young boy, Caziel had to work for food and money, and among the many odd jobs he undertook he swept the studios of the local art school, as well as posing as a model for the life classes.
During the Second World War, following the defeat of the Polish army, Caziel went into hiding in Aix-en-Provence, where he found himself at the centre of the milieu of Cézanne.
1906: Born in Sosnowiec, Poland, on 6 June.1931-36: Studied painting at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Art.1932-37: Exhibited at Loza Wolnomalarska (Lodge of Free Painters).1937: Won a State Scholarship to travel to Italy and Paris; in Paris lived with Polish painter Lutka Pink.1938: Returned to Poland for the commission of a large fresco for the Observatory of Pop Ivan at Lvow.1939: Back in Paris, volunteered for the Polish Army in France; stationed at Ceotquidan, Brittany; Married Lutka Pink; Partook in ‘Peintres moblises’ at the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery, Paris.1940: Following disbanding of the Polish Army, Caziel found refuge with Blaise Cendrars in Aix-en-Provence.1941-44: The Resistance moved Caziel to a mountain estate in the Auvergne.1944-46: Back in Aix-en-Provence Caziel steeped himself in the painting of Cézanne.1946: Moved to Paris; Designed the Polish Pavilion for UNESCO International Exhibition of Modern Art.1947: One-man show at the Galerie Allard, Paris.1948: Met Picasso with whom he developed a long-standing friendship.1948-1956: Exhibited at the Salon de Mai in Paris.1951: The Musée National d’Art Moderne purchased one of his monumental canvas works.1952: Met Scottish painter Catherine Sinclair.
Together they decided to settle in Ponthevrard, just outside Paris.1953: Vatican commissioned four large paintings for their Museum of Modern Religious Art; First designs for frescoes for French architect Jean Ginsberg.1956: Divorced Lutka Pink; First visit to England for engagement to Catherine Sinclair.1957: Married Catherine Sinclair.1958: Birth of daughter Clementina.1963: Exterior design for the Atomic Energy Commission at Tollemache House, Thurso, Scotland.1966: First one-man in London, held at the Grabowski Gallery.1968: Second one-man show at the Grabowski Gallery, London.1968-70: Exhibited at Royal Academy of Arts, London.1969: Left Ponthevrard to settle in Somerset, England.1978: Exhibited at the National Museum, Warsaw – Circle of Tadeusz Pruszkowski.1983: Exhibited works on paper at the Summer Exhibition at Fair Maids House Gallery, North Port, Perth.1988: Died in Somerset; Bequeathed ten paintings to the National Museum, Warsaw bringing their total number to seventeen works.1990: Memorial Exhibition at the Polish Cultural Institute, London.