Jerzy Jaworowski was a Polish graphic artist, poster designer and book illustrator whose work ranged from film posters and postage stamps to hundreds of book covers and illustrations. His graphic work combined strong, economical imagery with an independent approach to visual interpretation, particularly in his later work for literature.

Born in 1919 in Augustów, Jaworowski began studying at the Officer Cadet School in 1939, but his education was interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War. After the Soviet invasion of Poland, he was captured and sent to a labour camp near Arkhangelsk, where he spent eight years working as a lumberjack. He returned to Poland in 1948 and enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, initially studying book graphics under Jan Marcin Szancer before moving to the poster studio headed by Henryk Tomaszewski. He graduated in 1955.

Jaworowski worked across applied graphic design, producing posters, graphic identities, book covers, dust jackets and illustrations, as well as occasional postage stamps for the Polish Post. His film posters of the 1950s and 1960s include Bel Ami, Faustyna, Dama pikowa, Fałszerz and Dzieje miłości. From the mid-1960s, he devoted himself almost exclusively to book design, producing nearly 400 publications for publishers including Czytelnik, Iskry, Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy and the National Publishing Agency. His work encompassed editions of writers including Jack London, Samuel Beckett, Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, Kurt Vonnegut, Gabriel García Márquez and Jean Giono.

Jaworowski was regarded by Henryk Tomaszewski as an unusually independent designer who did not simply follow the demands of publishers or writers. Tomaszewski described his approach to literature as driven by his own reading and interpretation, leading him along what he called “lonely paths.” Jaworowski also designed several notable postage-stamp series, including the 1965 World Finn Class Championships, which was voted the most beautiful Polish stamp of that year by Filatelista.

Jaworowski suffered from leukemia for many years and died in Warsaw in 1975 at the age of 55. He was buried at Powązki Cemetery.