Henryk Kuna (c.1885 – 17 December 1945) was a Polish
sculptor
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
, active in the early twentieth century. His long career produced many famous works of arts including several renowned public monuments in his native country of
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
.
Life
Henryk Kuna was born to a Jewish family in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
in 1885
or possibly earlier (various sources give his year of birth as far back as 1879). Kuna studied art at the
Academy of Fine Arts
The following is a list of notable art schools.
Accredited non-profit art and design colleges
* Adelaide Central School of Art
* Alberta College of Art and Design
* Art Academy of Cincinnati
* Art Center College of Design
* The Art Institute o ...
in
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
where he met fellow artists who would become lifelong friends. Many of them became deeply involved in Kuna's informal school of art known as ''Rytm'' (Rhythm). The group focused on the development of a Polish national style melding modernity with classicism.
Kuna was a well-established artist in his time. He was appointed, along with the artists
Teodor Axentowicz
Teodor Axentowicz ( Armenian: Թեոդոր Աքսենտովիչ; 13 May 1859 in Brașov, Austrian Empire – 26 August 1938 in Kraków, Second Polish Republic) was a Polish- Armenian painter and university professor. A renowned artist of his times ...
,
Julian Fałat
Julian Fałat, (30 July 1853 in Tuligłowy near Lwów – 9 July 1929 in Bystra Śląska) was one of the most prolific Polish painters of watercolor and one of the country's foremost landscape painters as well as one of the leading Polish im ...
and others, to represent Poland at the XII
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
in 1920. Kuna's fame flourished further with a well-received solo exhibition in London two years later.
Kuna died in the northern city of
Toruń
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, image_caption =
, image_flag = POL Toruń flag.svg
, image_shield = POL Toruń COA.svg
, nickname = City of Angels, Gingerbread city, Copernicus Town
, pushpin_map = Kuyavian-Pom ...
in 1945. He was interred in Warsaw's historic
Powązki Cemetery
Powązki Cemetery (; pl, Cmentarz Powązkowski), also known as Stare Powązki ( en, Old Powązki), is a historic necropolis located in Wola district, in the western part of Warsaw, Poland. It is the most famous cemetery in the city and one of t ...
.
[
]
Works
Kuna was chosen for a project to sculpt a statue of Polish national hero Adam Mickiewicz
Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (; 24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. A principal figure in Polish Ro ...
for the city of Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...
in the early 1930s. His work progressed on a number of bas relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
s, evocative of the romantic themes of Mickiewicz's writing, which were to surround the statue. When the Nazis invaded in 1939, the monument site was largely destroyed by a bomb, and under their occupation many of the bas reliefs were hauled off to a cemetery as paving stones.
A new sculpture by Gediminas Jokūbonis was unveiled in 1984 with Kuna's surviving bas reliefs emplaced around it. In the turbulent 1980s and 1990s, the site was a popular meeting place for political dissidents.
Kuna's most iconic work, the lifesize female nude ''Rytm'' (Rhythm, 1925), seemingly sways waterside in the Praga Południe
Praga is a district of Warsaw, Poland. It is on the east bank of the river Vistula. First mentioned in 1432, until 1791 it formed a separate town with its own city charter.
History
The historical Praga was a small settlement located at ...
district of Warsaw. Another female figure, ''Alina'', stands amid a fountain at Stefan Żeromski
Stefan Żeromski ( ; 14 October 1864 – 20 November 1925) was a Polish novelist and dramatist belonging to the Young Poland movement at the turn of the 20th century. He was called the "conscience of Polish literature".
He also wrote under t ...
Park in the Żoliborz
Żoliborz () is one of the northern districts of the city of Warsaw. It is located directly to the north of the City Centre, on the left bank of the Vistula river. It has approximately 50,000 inhabitants and is one of the smallest boroughs of W ...
district.
Among Kuna's other works are ''Jutrzenka'' (Daybreak, 1919); ''Rozowy marmur'' (Pink Marble, 1930); and ''Portraits of K.R Witkowski'' (1930).[
In 1930, Kuna was awarded the Officer's Cross of the ]Order of Polonia Restituta
The Order of Polonia Restituta ( pl, Order Odrodzenia Polski, en, Order of Restored Poland) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on al ...
and, in 1935, the Golden Laurel of the Polish Academy of Literature
The Polish Academy of Literature ( pl, Polska Akademia Literatury, PAL) was one of the most important state institutions of literary life in the Second Polish Republic, operating between 1933 and 1939 with the headquarters in Warsaw. It was foun ...
.
Polish pavilion in Paris 1925 courtyard.jpg, ''Rytm'' (Paris, 1925)
Rytm-Park Skaryszewski.jpg, ''Rytm'' (Warsaw, 1925)
Rytm2.jpg, ''Rytm'' (detail), Warsaw
References
Further reading
* Catalog of Kuna's works
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuna, Henryk
Polish sculptors
Polish male sculptors
Jewish sculptors
19th-century Polish Jews
Officers of the Order of Polonia Restituta
20th-century sculptors
1880s births
1945 deaths
Artists from Warsaw
Burials at Powązki Cemetery
Golden Laurel of the Polish Academy of Literature