(c. 1920-1990)
Henryk Jarosz was an accomplished painter and photographer, who specialized in the Polish folk art of wood chip carving, which he applied in creating furniture and statuary. A graduate of the old Art Institute of Buffalo, where he studied with Charles Burchfield, Jarosz exhibited his works in the 1957 Western New York show at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, and in one-man shows in the Wilcox Mansion, in 1976, and at Canisius College. He also was represented in exhibits at the Polish Community Center, where he taught wood chip carving and served as director of the J. C. Mazur Gallery, and at the University at Buffalo.
He retired in 1982 after 30 years with the Defense Department's Contract Administration Service office in Buffalo.
Around 1986, Jarosz contacted the Burchfield Art Center for a letter of reference so he could develop his project to photograph Western New York artists. His body of work documents many artists who are no longer living; thus it serves as part of the cultural history of the region. In 2009, Michael and Irene Rozmus donated 84 of these portraits and in 2010 his widow, Adele Jarosz donated 12 color portrait photographs of Western New York artists. They are all part of the Center's Archives.