Józef Hołard, actually Józef Hoła (born 22 March 1957 in Oświęcim, died 19 January 2015 in Cieszyn) – Polish professor, artist, painter, graphic artist, poster designer, educator.
He studied at the Katowice Faculty of Graphic Arts of Krakow’s Academy of Fine Arts; graduated with honours under the tutelage of Professor Tomasz Jura (1983). Since 1986 he has worked at the Cieszyn Institute of Art of the University of Silesia in Katowice where he was a professor at the Department of Graphic Design.
He specialized in painting, book design, illustrations and drawings. A well-known poster artist took a part in major poster competitions and shows in Poland and other countries.
His works have been displayed at numerous solo exhibitions and he has participated in national and international exhibitions.
He has received many awards and honorary mentions at exhibitions including the Bielska Jesień National Painting Exhibition, in which he has participated regularly for nearly twenty years and where he received the Second Prize – Silver Medal in 1984; an honourable mention in 1986; the Second Prize – Silver Medal in 1987; the First Prize – Gold Medal in 1990 and an honourable mention in 2001. In 1983 he also won the First Prize in the 11th J. Spychalski National Competition of Painting. He has frequently participated in the Polish Poster Biennale in Katowice. Recipient of the 'Icarus', an award given by the Mayor of Bielsko-Biała (2005), the 2007 Award of the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts and the Gold Medal (2009/2010) at the 3rd International Graphic Biennial of the Islamic World awarded by the Iranian Academy of Arts in Teheran (Iran).
Józef Hołarda’s pictures captivate audiences with their characteristic artistic beauty. The artist has been able to create a kind of language of communication that combines the characteristics of artistic expression as seen in painting and graphics with elements borrowed from the poetry of the poster. He used flat, painting and graphic compositions to introduce into them different types of paper, thread and old cloth, which has a sentimental value for him. In his art he assigned an equal weight to the role of intellectual reflections and purely pictorial values. He openly displays his cultural and literary fascinations. He furthermore stresses this idea with additional titles which he often writes along the edges of his works adding a new semantic layer to his paintings. Since 2000 he has been working on a painting series entitled According to Umberto Eco, in which he makes references to the work of the famous Italian philosopher and medievalist. He combined symbolism with expressiveness and his characteristic sharp and predatory forms of artistic expression with beautiful, subdued colours.