Who Was Stanisław Szukalski
There is perhaps no more insidious question, for which the answer will always be inexhaustible.
Stanisław Szukalski was born with a creativity that life could not suppress. The years in which he existed and created, and their extraordinary number (94! years), made him a sculptor, illustrator, painter, photographer, architect, champion of Slavic culture, philosopher, writer, playwright, traveler, historian, ethnologist, anthropologist, and anthropolinguist. Living at the turn of two centuries, he witnessed the enormous transformations that the world around him was undergoing. He was in constant motion, living almost simultaneously on two continents.
Early Years
Staś was born on December 13, 1893, in Warta, in a home of romantic patriotic values. He spent his early adult years in cosmopolitan Chicago and New York, as well as in the European classical city of Krakow. After years of poverty and hunger, alongside his wife from Chicago society, he discovered the taste of life in European capitals. He bought a house in May-en-Multien near Paris and in the charming and peaceful Mąćmierz near Kazimierz Dolny. However, it was in Krakow that he transformed into Stach from Warta, who with his passionate speeches wanted to realize his own vision of Poland. Society, however, offered greater resistance than clay in the Master’s hands, constantly wavering between admiration for his art and condemnation of his radical views. These realities led to the formation in 1928 of an artistic group called Szczep Rogate Serce (Horned Heart Tribe), later also known as the Szukalski Tribe of the Horned Heart coat of arms. Its members, thanks to Szukalski’s teachings, developed the potential of their own creativity, simultaneously becoming support for his philosophy and art. However, nothing ever soothed Szukalski’s sense of rejection by his own nation. The hostility and lack of understanding irreversibly broke his heart.
Marriage
His marriage also did not turn out happily, as Hellen Walker Szukalska filed for divorce in 1933. However, Stanisław Szukalski found love with Joan Lee Donovann, whom he married a year later.
World War II
The drama and cruelty of World War II revised Szukalski’s views, and for the second half of his life, he searched among art artifacts from all nations of the world for anthropological and linguistic features connecting humanity, giving it a common, primordial Homeland, but also explaining the existence of evil. He named the science he created Zermatism, and richly illustrated his analyses collected in 40? volumes (approx. 40,000 sketches).
Works
He created continuously, using all possible media. The output of his nearly 80 years of official artistic activity could be estimated at over 700 artistic works, of which only a small portion has survived in original form to modern times, due to the turmoil of wars and communist rule in Poland.
Archives Szukalski
By twist of fate, he was discovered by Glenn Bray, who was fascinated by his talent and quickly earned his sympathy. Until the last days of his life, Szukalski created and enjoyed the company of the Californian community of artists of that time.
Glenn Bray and Lena Zwalve, by creating Archives Szukalski, took the first step toward saving Stanisław Szukalski from oblivion. Thanks to this, efforts were made to preserve, publish, and re-exhibit his works during the Master’s lifetime.
Stanisław Szukalski
Died on may 19, 1987
leaving behind the outstanding legacy of his life and a circle of friends. By decision of his heirs, his ashes and those of his wife Joan, who died in 1980, were scattered on Easter Island, which according to Szukalski was the homeland of all nations.