Xawery Dunikowski (; 24 December 1875 – 26 January 1964) was a Polish sculptor and artist, notable for surviving
Auschwitz concentration camp, and best known for his
Neo-Romantic sculptures and
Auschwitz-inspired art.
Biography
Dunikowski was born 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 ...
, a city he had an affinity for and would also use as the basis for a collection of art. When he was twelve his family moved to
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 ...
, and after finishing his education in a technical school he studied sculpture under
Boleslaw Syrewicz and
Leon Wasilkowski. At twenty one, Dunikowski moved back to Kraków to study sculpture at the School of Fine Arts under
Konstanty Laszczka
Konstanty Laszczka (born 3 September 1865 in Makowiec Duży; died 23 March 1956 in Kraków) was a Polish sculptor, painter, graphic artist, as well as professor and rector of the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. Laszczka became the ...
, admirer of
Auguste Rodin, and under
Alfred Daun. He studied painting with
Jan Stanisławski and after being enrolled for three years, he graduated with honors.
In 1902 Dunikowski began teaching sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, a professorship he would hold until 1909 when he was appointed the Chair of Sculpture Department at the
Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts
The Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków ( pl, Akademia Sztuk Pięknych im. Jana Matejki w Krakowie, usually abbreviated to ''ASP''), is a public institution of higher education located in the centre of Kraków, Poland. It is the oldest Pol ...
in Kraków.
On January 18, 1905, amid a quarrel in a Warsaw restaurant, he shot and killed
Wacław Pawliszczak, a fellow artist and popular Warsaw society figure. As a result, he was arrested and then released on a 2,000 rubles bail, while being charged with manslaughter (crime of passion). However, he was never really tried by the Tsarist justice apparatus, which at that time was busy with the
Revolution of 1905, as well as other problems. Being an Austrian subject, he was subsequently allowed to return to Kraków, and never actually did any jail time or paid any retribution for his crime to the victim's family.
Heading to
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
shortly before the beginning of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Dunikowski remained in France from 1914-1920 (he served 5 years in the
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, Armoured Cavalry Arm, cavalry, Military engineering, engineers, Airborne forces, airborne troops. It was created ...
) until he returned to Kraków in 1921 to take the position of Head of Faculty of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts there. While working at the Academy, he educated many Polish sculptors including:
Jerzy Bandura,
Zygmunt Gawlik,
Józef Gosławski,
Maria Jarema,
Ludwik Konarzewski (junior),
Jacek Puget and
Henryk Wiciński,
and Polish-American woodcarver Adam Dabrowski. Dunikowski did not leave Kraków until 1940 when he was arrested by the
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...
.
War years
Dunikowski was arrested by the Germans on 15 May 1940 and deported to the
Auschwitz concentration camp on 26 June 1940. In Auschwitz, he was assigned the number 774. The detainment has interrupted his work on a series of sculptures entitled ''Heads from the Kraków Palace'', based on busts found up on the ceilings of
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history
The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...
castles. Auschwitz had demoralized the artist up to a point where he said that he had died there and refused all requests, mainly by
Schutzstaffel
The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe duri ...
(SS) guards, who urged him to make a model of the camp. Being already of an advanced age, in 1942 Dunikowski fell sick and readily was selected to be killed, until his name was crossed out by a fellow Pole of the list of prisoners doomed to be gassed. Narrowly escaping death, he once again nearly met his fate when in September 1943 he was accused of belonging to a resistance movement within the camp, and was therefore sentenced to be shot . However, due to further illness, he was sent back to the infirmary and had his sentence reduced . By 1944, still hospitalized, he began to draw portraits of fellow prisoners. Each drawing had to be smuggled out, and the ones that have made it were sent back to Kraków. Dunikowski had still not fully recovered by 27 January 1945, when the Soviet
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...
liberated Auschwitz, but by 1946 he has returned to his position at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. He has also resumed his work on the ''Heads from the Kraków Palace'' series of sculptures.
Postwar period
By the time he had returned to his normal life and recovered from his illness, Dunikowski was already seventy years old, and had started to create larger art to coincide with many of his Auschwitz-themed drawings and sculptures. His postwar interests started to drift toward architecture and tying it further to sculpture, as well as public monuments, most notably the ''Monument of the Liberation of the Region of Warmia and Mazury'' and the ''Revolutionary Effort'', located in
Olsztyn
Olsztyn ( , ; german: Allenstein ; Old Prussian: ''Alnāsteini''
* Latin: ''Allenstenium'', ''Holstin'') is a city on the Łyna River in northern Poland. It is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, and is a city with county rights. ...
and at
Góra Świętej Anny
Góra Świętej Anny (; german: Sankt Annaberg ; sli, Anaberg; szl, Świyntŏ Anna; all names meaning " Saint Anne's Mountain") is a village in the Opole Voivodeship, in southern Poland.
The village is located on the hill from which its name d ...
. Dunikowski had lived to see his works on display both in his hometown of Kraków, as well as exhibited in Warsaw, and at other venues, which by the early- to mid-1950s have included Moscow and Venice.
In 1955, Dunikowski was the subject of a film documentary themed around his workshop, titled ''Idę do słońca'' (I am Going toward the Sun), but he took little interest in the film itself nor in its director,
Andrzej Wajda
Andrzej Witold Wajda (; 6 March 1926 – 9 October 2016) was a Polish film and theatre director. Recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme d'Or, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Honorary Golden Bear Awards, he was a prominent member of the ...
. Featured in the documentary was another famous series of sculptures by Dunikowski titled ''Kobiety brzemienne'' (Pregnant Women).
In the same year Dunikowski became the professor of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, thus leaving Kraków for good. He also held professorship at the State Higher School of Visual Arts in
Wrocław
Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...
.
In 1964, at the age of eighty-eight, Xawery Dunikowski died, leaving behind a legacy of art including some of his more famous sculptures, ''Macierzyństwo'' (Motherhood, 1900), ''Skupienie'' (Concentration), ''Fatum'' (Fate, 1904), ''Dante'', sculpture series including ''the Women of Nieborów'' and ''the Jesuits' Circle'', along with many illustrations, portraits, and other works. Considered to be the best 20th century Polish sculptor, Dunikowski is buried in the Alley of the Meritorious in
Powązki Military Cemetery
Powązki Military Cemetery (; pl, Cmentarz Wojskowy na Powązkach) is an old military cemetery located in the Żoliborz district, western part of Warsaw, Poland. The cemetery is often confused with the older Powązki Cemetery, known colloquial ...
, Warsaw; his tomb sculpture was created by a former pupil,
Barbara Zbrożyna.
Museum
The former Warsaw palace of
Królikarnia houses a museum dedicated to Dunikowski. Many of his famous works are on display in the park that surrounds it, among which is the sculpture in sandstone known as ''The Soul Escaping the Body'' (1918).
References
External links
Xawery Dunikowskiat Culture.pl
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunikowski, Xawery
1875 births
1964 deaths
Modern sculptors
Auschwitz concentration camp survivors
Burials at Powązki Military Cemetery
Recipients of the Order of the Builders of People's Poland
Golden Laurel of the Polish Academy of Literature
Soldiers of the French Foreign Legion
20th-century Polish sculptors
Polish male sculptors
20th-century male artists
Artists from Kraków