Teofil Ociepka
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Teofil Ociepka (22 April 1891 in Janów Śląski – 15 January 1978 in
Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with more ...
) was a Polish self-taught
primitivist Primitivism is a mode of aesthetic idealization that either emulates or aspires to recreate a "primitive" experience. It is also defined as a philosophical doctrine that considers "primitive" peoples as nobler than civilized peoples and was an o ...
painter and Theosophist. Along with Nikifor, he was one of the best-known Polish primitivists.


Early life

Ociepka started working at the age of 15, so as to financially support his family after his father's death. He took on a series of jobs, eventually becoming a power plant machinist at the
Giesche Giesche Corp. (Giesche Spolka Akcyjna) was, during the interwar period, part of and owned by the German firm of Bergwerksgesellschaft Georg von Giesche's Erben (commonly called Giesche's Erben) and represented those holdings of Giesche's Erben, tha ...
coal mine in
Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popul ...
, where he worked until his retirement. He served as a soldier in the
German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...
during the First World War, and was introduced to
occultism The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism an ...
during that time, including through Athanasius Kircher's treatise on the Seventy Two Names of God. On the recommendation of his Swiss mentor, Philip Hohmann of Wittenberg, with whom he maintained steady correspondence, Ociepka became a member of the Rosicrucian Lodge and attained the status of Master of Secret Sciences. On Hohmann's direction, he organized a strong occultist community in Janów. He maintained contact with the Julian Ochorowicz
Parapsychological Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry) and other paranormal claims, for example, those related to near ...
Society of Lviv. He believed that he had a spiritual link with his master, who
telepathically Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic W ...
inspired his art.


Artistic career and the Janowska Group

Hohmann persuaded Ociepka to start painting circa 1927. Ociepka painted until the 1930s, then taking a break and only returning to the craft in 1947. Several different reasons have been given for this break, including a "lack of understanding of his art", a cool reception by the curators of the Silesian Museum, or direct criticism of his work by Tadeusz Dobrowolski, a Polish professor of art history and museum curator. Ociepka's art gained further prominence after the Second World War. A 1946 exhibition organized by trade unions focused on the artworks of coal miners, Ociepka included. Izabela Stachowicz also attended this exhibition and, impressed by Ociepka's work, organized a solo exhibition for him in Warsaw, promoting him as "Polish
Douanier Rousseau Henri Julien Félix Rousseau (; 21 May 1844 – 2 September 1910)
at the Julian Tuwim Julian Tuwim (13 September 1894 – 27 December 1953), known also under the pseudonym "Oldlen" as a lyricist, was a Polish poet, born in Łódź, then part of the Russian Partition. He was educated in Łódź and in Warsaw where he studied la ...
and
Jan Kott Jan Kott (October 27, 1914 – December 22, 2001) was a Polish political activist, critic and theoretician of the theatre. A leading proponent of Stalinism in Poland for nearly a decade after the Soviet takeover, Kott renounced his Communist P ...
. The Warsaw exhibition significantly boosted Ociepka's popularity and artistic career. Stachowicz sometimes framed Ociepka in a manner that would be more conducive to the socialist ideology of the Polish People's Republic. Instead of focusing on his occult interests, she would emphasize his industrial employment and argue that his works represented "local legends". Under Stachowicz's tutelage, Ociepka and other regional artists were able to cultivate their own artistic style and movement, which became known as the Janowska Group. Her support, along with that of Otton Klimczok, allowed the Janowska Group to thrive in a post-Stalinist Eastern Bloc. Its works did not need to fully adhere to the principles of socialist realism, in notable contrast with most other prominent art produced in Poland at that time. While Ociepka saw himself as part of the Group, he declined invitations to paint with others, preferring to create his art in the solitude of his home.


Artistic style, themes, and influences

Ociepka saw his painting as God's mission, and so tried to portray absolutist themes, including the struggle between good and evil. Ociepka felt that he had not just the gift of seeing and portraying the world in a particular way, but also the "moral responsibility" to share this vision with the world. Many of his paintings are also heavily influenced by Rosicrucian ideology, though, in addition to his esoteric focus, he was also heavily inspired by Catholic and Silesian thinking. He strongly opposed
materialism Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materiali ...
, seeing it as a force of evil in sharp contrast with his religiously inspired way of seeing the world. Later, his works depicted themes from fairy tales, legends, and lives of miners. They are characterized by wealth of imagination and bright, rich colors.


Later life

As he was approaching his retirement, he received a letter from Julia Ufnal from
Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with more ...
, who expressed a deep interest in metaphysics and spoke of a "moral and spiritual command" to take care of the artist. Ociepka and Ufnal married in 1959, after which the artist started to distance himself from occultism and cut off contact with some of his friends in the art world. In 1969, the couple moved to Bydgoszcz.


Selected works

* ''Miner'' * ''Hydra'' * ''Lion from Saturn'' * ''Bear from Saturn'' * ''Three Headed Dragon''


References


Further reading

* Karolina Maria Hess and Malgorzata Alicja Dulska
"Teofil Ociepka"
''World Religions and Spirituality Project'', June 9, 2017. * Alfred Ligocki: ''Teofil Ociepka'', Wydawnictwo Artystyczno-Graficzne RSW Prasa, 1967 * Joanna Tofilska: ''Katowice Nikiszowiec. Miejsce, ludzie, historia''. Katowice: Muzeum Historii Katowic, 2007, s. 142, 143. .


External links


Seweryn A. Wisłocki, Master Teofil Ociepka: Between the Authorities and the Truth

Angelus (2000)

Angelus

Teofil Ociepka - sztuka naiwna
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ociepka, Teofil 1891 births 1978 deaths 20th-century Polish painters 20th-century Polish male artists Polish Theosophists Polish male painters Artists from Bydgoszcz