Eugenia Joanna Pawel-Kroll

• nickname Szarlota Pawel
• born 1947
• born in Warsaw
• died on 7 September 2018
• she lived and created her works in Warsaw
• she specialized in comics, graphic arts, illustrations and painting

“Eugenia-Szarlota, thank you for your contribution to the Polish comics and the Polish art and for the joy your works gave to many generations” (SLOW editorial team and readers)

The artist is known under the pseudonym of Szarlota Pawel. She studied art at the Faculty of Graphic Arts of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. She graduated in 1974.

The most important publications: “Jonka, Janek i Kleks” series (story and art), Świat Młodych, since 1974, many publishers; “Kubuś Piekielny” series (story and art), Świat Młodych, since 1977, many publishers; “Za króla Piasta Polska wyrasta”, (art), story by K. Makuszyński, the Warsaw Uprising Museum, 2007; “Indiańska próba” (art), story by K. T. Lewandowski, Ongrys, 2009; “O polskim Chrobotku” (art), story by H. Januszewska, the Warsaw Uprising Museum, 2009; “Bunt Krasnoludków” (art), story by K. T. Lewandowski, Świat Młodych, 2010.

The most important awards and distinctions: “For an outstanding contribution to the development of comics in Poland”, Warszawskie Spotkania Komiksowe, Warsaw, 2009; Bronze Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis”, Warsaw, 2010; Janusz Christa Gold Cup, Festiwal Kultury Popularnej Dwutakt, Toruń, 2017; “For great services to Polish comics”, Warsaw Comic Con Festival, Warsaw, 2019 (posthumously);

Szarlota Pawel is called the first lady of the Polish comics. Characteristics of her works include a warm sense of humour, understandable both for younger and older readers, and ironic depiction of the reality of the Polish People’s Republic, devoid of any moralizing. However, what makes the artist stand out most among other classic artists is her great imagination demonstrated in the adventures she drew. Pawel constantly crossed the borderlines of the children’s adventure comics and extended it with elements of fairy tales, science fiction, travelling, sensation or cloak and dagger stories.
She created her works using the cartoons style; she used specific rounded and soft strokes and a relatively limited number of colours. Owing to clean and distinctive strokes and simplified elements, her illustrations are still readable despite dense content and faithful depiction of the reality.
Pawel’s comics are exceptionally dynamic, full of speech balloons, almost completely free of silent panels. The artist mastered the classic comics language perfectly, i.e. colourful expressive onomatopoeias or speech balloons with various shapes. She was fluent in the verbal and visual language and her characters sometimes communicate using drawings. In such moments, the balloons contain drawings showing what a character is thinking instead of text or both verbal as well as visual contents appear. What is characteristic of Pawel’s works is large synchronous panels presenting group scenes tightly packed with content.

Eugenia Joanna Pawel-Kroll Gallery