Stanley Twardowicz was born July 8, 1917 in West Detroit, Michigan. As a child, Twardowicz experienced many hardships that ultimately placed him in the care of his godfather. On paper, John Twardowicz soon became the young boy's legal guardian and Stanley began using his godfather’s surname almost immediately. In his early twenties, Stanley decided to legally change his birth name from “Leginsky” to Twardowicz, and just prior to his first marriage.

As a child, Twardowicz was aware of his natural ability, and desire to make art. While attending Catholic school, his talent and skills at drawing were soon recognized by the nuns who taught Twardowicz -- giving Stanley "special" status in the classroom as the class artist. Twardowicz was often given the task of drawing pictures that would be copied, and then distributed to the other students to color or, led to the blackboard where he would create large pictures for his fellow students to enjoy. Throughout his teens and early twenties, Twardowicz primarily worked to support his family during the Depression and did not place much focus on art until he made single a choice that would ultimately change the course of his life.

In 1940, at the energetic age of 23, Twardowicz attended the Meinzinger Art School in Detroit, Michigan, to learn photo-retouching. During summer classes the following year, Stanley became so smitten with figure drawing that he decided to dedicate his life to fine-art painting.

In the spring of 1946, Stanley attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, ME, with his friend Zubel Kachadoorian, another Detroit artist. Twardowicz and Kachadoorian were known for a time as a “two-man team,” exhibiting together in numerous shows during the early days.

The opportunity at Skowhegan proved to be well worth his extra effort. A visitor at the school proceeded to pull strings that resulted in Stanley’s joining the faculty at Ohio State University.

In 1948, the young artist was the winner of a $1,500 fellowship in Pepsi-Cola's Fifth Annual Paintings of the Year Competition, which became a show at the National Academy of Design in New York City. That same year Ohio State University purchased Twardowicz's Romantic period painting, "Clown." for its permanent collection. In 1949, Twardowicz began annual one-man exhibits at the Contemporary Arts Gallery, New York and, had a one-man exhibit at the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Ohio.

The years 1950 through 1952 were good ones for Twardowicz as he enjoyed seven one-man exhibitions at Ball State Teacher's College, Eastern Illinois State College, Decatur Art Center, the University of Kentucky, Ohio Wesleyan University, and two exhibits at George Wittenborn of New York City.

The idea of slowing down seemed never to enter Twardowicz’s mind as he continued to create paintings, drawings and, photographs that showed his keen sense of personal awareness. During a trip to Europe in 1951, Stanley traveled through France, Italy and, Spain producing a series of no fewer than 1,000 abstract drawings. The experience prefigures his transition from the early semi-abstract "Fish Net" paintings to a period of full abstraction—a "growth" which the artist says allowed him to "really let loose."

The European trip also marked his departure from his teaching position at Ohio State University. When he returned to the United States in 1952, Twardowicz moved to Plainfield, NJ, and began taking advantage of being so close to New York City. Most notably, he began visiting the Cedar Tavern in 1953. There he befriended many painters who were to become famously known as Abstract Expressionists.

It was now 1954, and Stanley made major strides in his use of color and composition. These, he says, were the direct result of his long and inspiring walks through the forest and countryside.

The following summer, Twardowicz rented a small cottage in Maine, and invited Kenzo and Kimi Okada to visit for a couple of weeks. It was Kenzo who introduced Stanley to Zen philosophy. That introduction gave Twardowicz the foundation to create a body of work to which art-world notables once again responded favorably. His “biomorphic” paintings soon became a signature component of the Abstract Expressionist movement.

The year 1955 was pivotal for Twardowicz as he perfected a "pouring" technique -- applying household oil enamels to canvases laid flat on the ground. So impressive was the resulting work that Stanley was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship the following year, and the Museum of Modern Art acquired one of his new paintings for its permanent collection. In the next few years, six additional museums would follow suit, as would many other institutions. Confirmation of Stanley's artistic stature was acknowledged again when “Painting No. 17, 1957” made the cover of Art in America: New Talent Annual in 1958. And New York’s Peridot Gallery would give him annual one-man exhibitions for a 12-year period.

1959-1962 marks Twardowicz’s self-recognized “black period” which yielded stunning “Black on Black” compositions “stained” directly onto unprimed canvas. Upon seeing these works in Stanley’s Northport, NY, studio, Jack Kerouac’s immediate response held true to his character. Kerouac exclaimed: “Black on black. What the fuck is that? A rubber raft at midnight?” Not only did Kerouac make his spontaneous-prose point in haiku fashion, but also, as Twardowicz recalls, with an “irreverent playfulness.”

In the late 1969's, and into the early 1970’s, Twardowicz received critical acclaim when his oval paintings were given recognition on two main points. First, they were viewed as a success based on their ability to “sell off the walls” at Peridot Gallery. Secondly, but more importantly, Twardowicz created what is distinctly a hybrid between Color-Field and Op-Art painting. Twardowicz offered a painting that when viewed at the proper distance, enigmatically disappeared before ones eyes. The “Disappearing Oval” embodied the subtleties of a Color-Field work and also psychologically produced an optical illusion that makes the composition slowly vanish, then reappear with the twitch of an eye.

Twardowicz’s Color Field work of the next few decades culminated in 2001 when a second career retrospective was exhibited at the Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona. (The first retrospective was held at the Heckscher Museum,Huntington, NY, in 1974.) The Phoenix Museum’s Exhibition: Moving Color: The Art of Stanley Twardowicz coins the phrase “Moving Color” – it pays homage to a response frequently made by Twardowicz when describing the visual juxtaposition and movement of colors on his canvases, and the effect it has on the artist. The simple statement “it moves” often expresses Twardowicz’s satisfaction.

Over the course of his career, Twardowicz has produced a catalog of photographic images that is remarkable in its own right. It is little wonder that those who encounter Twardowicz photographs are likely to become collectors themselves. The evocative serenity of the "Fish Net" series, the ghost-like airiness of the young girl in "Carousel", or the candid, intimate portraits of Jack Kerouac grab and hold the viewer captive within the frame. We become first-hand witnesses to events seemingly ready to unfold before our eyes. Twardowicz’s camera captures the creative essence of his eyes and, when printed on paper, becomes a window to his soul. After reviewing his career-long catalog of images, Stanley is no less exceptional a photographer than he is a painter. In both painting and photography, Stanley Twardowicz has created an impressive body of work that is, quintessentially, the mark of a modern master.