Drabik Wincenty, *13 November 1881 in Jaworzno, †11 July 1933 in Warsaw, Polish set designer and painter. In 1902–04, he studied under S. Stanisławski, J. Mehoffer, J. Fałat, and S. Wyspiański at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, and from around 1903 to 1905 he continued his studies at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna. From 1905 he worked at the Municipal Theater in Lviv, and in 1909 he moved to Warsaw. From 1918 to 1933, he lectured at the Academy of Fine Arts (becoming an associate professor in 1930), and from 1921 to 1929, he was the head of the painting, decoration, and technical department of the Municipal Theaters in Warsaw.
Drabik was one of the most outstanding Polish stage designers of the interwar period, creating sets for many theatrical performances staged in Warsaw, including at the Polish Theatre, the Little Theatre, the Summer Theatre, the National Theatre, the New Theatre, the Grand Theatre, Reduta, the Variety Theatre, and the Bogusławski Theatre, directed by, among others, J. Osterwa (Wyzwolenie [Liberation] by S. Wyspiański, 1918, Książę Niezłomny [The Constant Prince] by J. Słowacki based on P. Calderon, 1918), L. Schiller (Pastorałka [Christmas Carol], 1922) and A. Zelwerowicz (Dziady [Forefathers’ Eve] by A. Mickiewicz, 1927). He also created stage designs for operas and ballets staged at the Grand Theatre and the National Theatre in Warsaw, as well as for plays performed in Samara, Moscow (Polish Theatre), Kyiv (Polish Theatre), Łódź, and Lviv. He designed stage costumes and painted pictures (portraits, landscapes). Drabik designed the sets for the premiere performances of the following works by K. Szymanowski (all in Warsaw): Mandragora (15 June 1920, Polish Theatre), Hagith (13 May 1922, Grand Theater), the ballet version of The Love Songs of Hafiz for voice and orchestra (12 September 1922, Grand Theater, together with Hagith), King Roger (19 June 1926, Grand Theater). In 1930, he was awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.
Literature: Wincenty Drabik 1881–1933, collective work, ed. M. Kulikowski, Warsaw 1936; Z. Strzelecki Polska plastyka teatralna, vol. 1, Warsaw 1963; M. Korzus Twórczość scenograficzna Wincentego Drabika, Warsaw 2009.
