Krystyna Zachwatowicz

Member of the Polish Film Academy. She is a co-founder (with Andrzej Wajda) of the Manggha Centre of Japanese Art and Technology in Kraków.

Krystyna Zachwatowicz studied at Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow and Jagiellonian University. The recorded working language is Polish. The field of work recorded is scenography, costume design and film. Employment is recorded with Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art, Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow and Teatr im. Distinctions recorded are Armia Krajowa Cross, Knight of the Order of Polonia Restituta, Cracoviae Merenti and Duke Mestwin II Medal.

• Name — Krystyna Zachwatowicz-Wajda • Native Name — Krystyna Anna Zachwatowicz-Wajda • Birth Name — Krystyna Zachwatowicz • Born — 16 May 1930 • Birthplace — Warsaw, Poland • Education — Jagiellonian University Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts • Occupation — Scenographer, costume designer, actress • Father — Jan Zachwatowicz • Awards — City of Kraków Award • Illustration — Krystyna Zachwatowicz with her husband Andrzej Wajda (2010)

Zachwatowicz was born on 16 May 1930 in Warsaw, Poland. She graduated from the History of Art Faculty of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków (1952) and Scenography faculty of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków (1958). In 1958, she made her own debut as a scenographer in Marin Držić's Rzymska kurtyzana on the stage of Teatr Zagłębia in Sosnowiec. In 1960, she moved to Sosnowiec, where she was associated with student's theatre of the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice. There, she designed a scenography to Witold Gombrowicz's The Marriage directed by Jerzy Jarocki. Zachwatowicz cooperated with Jarocki also in other theatre productions: Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz's The Mother (1964, 1972; Matka) and The Shoemakers (1971; Szewcy) at The Old Theatre in Kraków. In The Old Theatre, she made set designs to several performances directed by Konrad Swinarski, i.e.: Zygmunt Krasiński's The Un-Divine Comedy (1965; Nie-Boska Komedia), William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1970) and to plays directed by Andrzej Wajda: Stanisław Wyspiański's November Night (1974; Noc listopadowa), Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment (1984), and William Shakespeare's Hamlet IV (1989). From 1958 to the 1970s, Zachwatowicz was an actress of Kraków's Piwnica pod Baranami, where she created a legendary portrait of "the first naive" (pierwsza naiwna). She cooperated with other theatres in Poland such as: The Groteska Puppet, Mask and Actor Theatre and The Ludowy Theatre in Kraków; with Dramatyczny Theatre and Polish Theatre in Warsaw, and in Wrocław with Polish Theatre.

Krystyna Zachwatowicz worked in scenography, costume design, film and theatre. She was employed by Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art, Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, Teatr im. Aleksandra Fredry, Juliusz Słowacki Theatre and Helena Modrzejewska National Old Theater in Kraków. She belonged to Polish Film Academy, Solidarity, Prymasowski Komitet Pomocy Osobom Pozbawionym Wolności i ich Rodzinom, Open Republic and Grey Ranks.

Krystyna Zachwatowicz is recorded as having studied at Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow and Jagiellonian University.