At the beginning of 2018, I started an archival research of my father’s artistic estate. After a first review I realized that the works created during the war might have a potential in Poland. My father suffered the same fate as over 100,000 Poles. First a prisoner in a Soviet labour camp in Siberia, then in early 1942 he was led out of the USSR by the Polish General Anders. Admitted to the Second Polish Corps, he received military training in the Middle East. Finally, the front-line operation in Italy against the German Wehrmacht to fight for the freedom of his homeland. And what is most interesting, at that time he created many artistic works, then still as an amateur painter. Therefore, I concentrated my work on this topic at first and created a first provisional documentation, which I sent to some museums and historical institutions at the end of 2018. The reactions of the experts exceeded my expectations. Not only museums but also historical institutions were interested. I got acquainted with Prof. Dr. Jan Wiktor Sienkiewicz, the most important expert of the „Anders› Artists» (he introduced this topic to art history). He immediately became interested in my father’s artistic work, wrote a scientific introductory article to the exhibition catalogue and came to the opening of the first exhibition, which took place in the Polish Museum in Rapperswil. The exhibition lasted from the end of March to the beginning of May 2019. Then I was invited by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Rome to show part of the exhibition during the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino within the walls of the monastery. It was an incredible honor that my Father did not experience during his lifetime. Since August 2019 the pictures are on exhibition tour in Poland.

At the centre of the first exhibition after the artist’s death are numerous portraits of soldiers, all of them combat colleagues of the artist. Each of them put on paper during the Italian campaign of the Second Polish Corps in a very personal, expressive and subtle way and in all its tragedy: Released from Siberian captivity – fighting in Italy for a free Poland – ready to sacrifice his life – and finally losing his hope of returning to a free homeland. Each of them was not only a „hero» of the war they had won. He was also the victim of a lost war for Poland. I know that my father experienced this very deeply, he wrote a lot about these feelings in his „stories“. Prof. Dr. Sienkiewicz confirmed to me that there was no artist under General Anders who had portrayed soldiers during the fighting – and that in such an expressive and emotional way. The portraits would breathe the „greatest strength and truth». He continues: „The need to portray their colleagues became a kind of mission and a registration of their personalities, especially during the difficult operations of crossing the Gothic Line in August 1944 by the soldiers of the Second Polish Corps at the same time when the Warsaw Uprising was beginning on the Vistula River and in which the artist’s colleagues from his school years in Warsaw soon suffered a bloody defeat». At the same time the Red Army was on the other side of the Vistula River. After their personal experience in Soviet captivity, each of the portrayed knew that this „liberation» did not mean anything good for Poland. Each of them experienced this trauma of victory and defeat at the same time in their own very personal way. It was precisely these feelings that the artist impressively captured on paper – that is the great power of this extraordinary artistic heritage. The most important thing for me is to pass on this tragedy to present and future generations who had not experienced this terrible war. And that these pictures are discovered and observed.

The pictures presented at the current exhibition constitute a small part of my father’s oeuvre. As early as 1946, still in the service of the 2 Polish Corps, he began his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome (Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma) and with Marian Bohusz-Szyszka, a Polish expressionist and well-known professor of fine arts. Like all soldiers of the 2 Polish Corps stranded in Italy, he had to decide where he wanted to live in the future. He did not want to return to Poland, ruled by the Soviets. Most of them, including his fellow students, opted for Great Britain. My father had «unpleasant» feelings to settle in the country that left Poland to Stalin. A third possibility emerged with the offer of a scholarship from the Spanish Catholic Foundation Pax Romana. He finally rejected these doubts, because in his eyes the Spanish Catholic Church had nothing to do with the fascist regime. In mid-November 1946, he was demobilized and traveled by ship from Genoa to Barcelona. A new stage of life has begun.

My father could never live from his art. It was rather side income. For a long time, his main occupation was as a paper sculptor (for advertising purposes). The last 15 years until his retirement, he worked as a drawing teacher. He enthusiastically taught young people artistic skills. His social achievements, especially for the Polish diaspora in Switzerland, will be appreciated elsewhere on this website.

Father rarely told us siblings about his war experiences. However, I have to admit that we rarely asked about it. And when we asked him, he replied that we should read his stories. It was obviously difficult for him to tell us directly – as is often the case with traumatised war victims. My father and I were similar in character: both stubborn. With different views, it often ended in conflict. This insight helps me, 20 years after his death, to come to terms with it.

After staying for several months in a spanish monastery, he started studying at the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid, which he graduated with a diploma after several years. I suppose that this excellent but artistically rather conservative school influenced him more than his studies in Italy, where he received a more contemporary education, especially by Marian Bohusz-Szyszko. Apart from the influence of old masters (e. g. He shaped it in the religious painting of El Greco) e continued what he had already started in Italy: painting landscapes and cities with a fast and characteristic line. Often in one day half a dozen pictures ready for exhibition. Often in one day half a dozen pictures ready for exhibition. Although he greatly admired many famous painters of the time, such as Picasso, the Impressionists were closer to him. Many of his works need not fear comparison with the masters of Impressionism. But the breakthrough as an artist hasn’t been granted him throughout his life. Art historians could now make up for posthumous recognition.

During my youth, my dad opened my eyes to the beauty of art and I› like visiting art museums and exhibitions ever since. But his artistic legacy really interested me only after his death. Today I am discovering this beauty more and more in his works as well. It’s like a seed that only germinates after many years. I am grateful to him for this seed. And at the same time happy that I can give him something back: a posthumous appreciation as an artist and as a wonderful person. His works, created during the war years as a Polish soldier and artist, are an ideal introduction to interest the public. The presentation of his Way of the Cross in Świętoniowa in the Museum of Przeworsk is the continuation of these efforts. Now I’m asked what else he created. On this website I will introduce more and more artistic works. Thank you for looking at this website from time to time.

Translated by Tadeusz Wojnarski Jr. with the help of pons.com and Google Translater.