Born as Maciej Zdzieblan, he used ‘Urbaniec’ as a pseudonym during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, and chose to keep it. He studied at the National Academy in Wroclaw (1952–54) and subsequently with Henryk Tomaszewski at the Poster Studio in the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts (1954–58); he graduated with honours. Urbaniec taught as assistant professor at the National Academy of Wroclaw (1970–75) and took charge of the graphic design studio of the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts (1975). His design awards include countless Best Book prizes, medals at IBA Leipzig and the Biennial of Graphic Art in Berne; the list of his other prizes and distinctions is most impressive. Urbaniec was one of the outstanding designers of the Polish ‘golden age of posters’. His works were exhibited the world over and can be found in the permanent collections of the leading specialized museums. Later he turned often to pastiche after Italian maestros, 17th-century Dutch art and German expressionism.