Poland’s stage designer and painter Rafal Olbinski has been awarded the silver medal by the American Society of Illustrators. The artist has been honoured for his cover to the opera “La Donna Di Lago” by Gioachino Rossini.

The New York based society grants its annual awards in the category of books, periodicals, advertisements and film promoting material. The annual exhibition during which the laureates are selected is open to artists worldwide and thousands of entries are considered by a professional jury.

Rafal Olbinski was awarded for his poster and the cover to the CD with the opera for the Allegro publishers from Portland in Oregon, where the most prestigious recordings are done.

Olbinski is the main illustrator, dealing with posters and covers, which is an unprecedented distinction. It is not the first time that the Polish artist was honoured by the Society of Illustrators.

In the past 20 years he has received five medals, two gold and three silver. The artist admitted that he was pleasantly surprised since he was most probably the oldest laureate this year, that his work is still appreciated.

Olbinski was born in Poland in the city of Kielce, he graduated from the department of
architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology.

In 1981 he emigrated to the USA, where he soon became widely known as painter, illustrator and set designer. His illustrations widely appear in major US and world publications such as Newsweek, Time, Playbor or Der Spiegel.

His paintings have been acquired by many world galleries and by numerous private collectors. He has also won the praise of critics for stage designs, among them Don Giovanni for the Opera Company of Philadelphia in 2002. (ab/jb)

Source: PAP