Jan Sawka Catalogue
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THE PLACE OF MEMORY (THE MEMORY OF PLACE) Published on the occasion of the exhibition Jan Sawka: The Place of Memory (The Memory of Place), curated by Hanna Maria Sawka and Frank Boyer, on display from February 8 – July 12, 2020 in the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, Morgan Anderson Gallery & Howard Greenberg Family Gallery, at the State University of New York at New Paltz. The Dorsky Museum’s exhibitions and programs are supported by the Friends of the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art and by the State University of New York at New Paltz. Funding for the photography, design, and printing of the catalog for Jan Sawka: The Place of Memory (The Memory of Place) has been provided by the Polish & Slavic Federal Credit Union, Polish Cultural Table Institute New York, and by the James and Mary Ottaway Hudson River Catalog Endowment. Published by the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art State University of New York at New Paltz One Hawk Drive New Paltz, NY 12561 of Contents Designed by Jeff Lesperance Edited by Hanna Maria Sawka Additional editing by Frank Boyer Copy edited by Amy Pickering and Dana Weidman Photos by Ward Yoshimoto, Krys Krawczyk, and Camille Murphy Biography 5 Distributed by the State University of New York Press Foreword / Wayne Lempka 11 www.sunypress.edu The Place of Memory (The Memory of Place) / Dr. Frank V. Boyer 13 ISBN No. 978-0-578-46474-9 ©2020 Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art and the Estate of Jan Sawka Artworks in the Exhibition 26 All rights reserved Post-Cards: Introduction / Hanna Maria Sawka, MFA 38 All reproductions copyright the Estate of Jan Sawka Little Comments about the Post-Cards / Jan Sawka 51 Text copyrights (as credited) Hanna Maria Sawka and Frank Boyer Encountering the Artist, Jan Sawka / Neil Trager 125 Printed and bound in the United States Jan Sawka / Elena G. Millie 137 Exhibition Checklist 141 Acknowledgments 143 THE DORSKY SAMUEL DORSKY MUSEUM OF ART STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT NEW PALTZ 2 Jan Sawka: Biography an Sawka (pronounced Yan SAF-ka) was a contemporary of a politically satirical and absurdist nature at FAMA, artist of Polish origin and global reach, who lived and the annual student art festival. He illustrated books, J worked in the Hudson Valley from 1985 until his death in including samizdats (underground publications) of the 2012. Accomplished in multiple disciplines, he was a painter, most outstanding contemporary Polish poets of his printmaker, graphic artist, set designer and architect. time, including Edward Stachura, Leszek Aleksander Moczulski, Ryszard Krynicki, Stanislaw Baranczak, Adam Jan Sawka was born in Zabrze (pronounced Zab-je), Poland Zagajewski and others who comprised the Polish “New on December 10, 1946. He was the son of an architect father Wave” of poetry. He is considered to be the only non- and linguist mother. His childhood was overshadowed by his writing member of this movement. He also exhibited father’s Stalin-era imprisonment and the political persecution his paintings and fine-art prints, as well as curated of his family. As part of an individual-studies program, Sawka exhibitions. In addition to all these activities, by his completed two concurrent Master degrees: one in Painting late 20s Sawka had become a star of the Polish Poster and Printmaking from the Wrocław Fine Arts Academy and School. the second in Architectural Engineering from the Institute of Technology in Wrocław. His program was overseen by Professor In 1975, Jan Sawka was instrumental in organizing an Stanisław Dawski in print-making and Professor Józef Hałas exhibition of paintings, prints, and posters called “The in painting at the Fine Arts Academy and by Professor Jerzy Four” at the Poster Museum in Wilanów (Warsaw). Rospendowski in architecture at the Polytechnic. The show was a Trojan Horse—a plan masterminded by Sawka and the museum’s then-director, Janina While still a student, he became a well-known figure in the world Fijałkowska ,to show the politically controversial fine of Polish counter-culture, and his activities intensified following art of J.J. Aleksiun, Jerzy Czerniawski, Jan Sawka, and his graduation. He was active as a set-designer and graphic artist S. Stankiewicz, known for their art-poster work as the for avant-garde theaters (Kalambur, Teatr STU) and cabarets. “Wrocław Four.” Because the four artists were well He created sets and designed posters for Jazz Nad Odrą (Jazz known for their posters, and the censors had already on the Oder River). He was among the key organizers of artistic vetted any posters as part of the printing process, events at festivals, creating well-known happenings which were the show was considered to be “safe” by the regime. Opposite page: Jan Sawka in his High Falls studio, 1990. (Artworks from left: Face 1 and Face 2, 1990). Photo by Krys Krawczyk. 4 Jan Sawka: The Place of Memory (The Memory of Place) 5 This was an error, because all of the artists also worked in that his career would fizzle out. The Embassy of the other media and genres of art, and they included works of Polish People’s Republic of Poland (i.e, the communist an explosive character in the show. The exhibition was an regime in Poland) refused to renew the Sawka family’s instantaneous hit, not only with Poles, but also with guests passports, which had been issued for one-way only visiting from abroad, creating consternation and problems for travel. The Sawka family had had only three days left on the regime, which could not definitively shut it down without their French residency cards. extreme embarrassment. This show would soon lead to Sawka’s exile. At this point, in late November of 1977, Jan Sawka and his family emigrated to the United States, entering Later in 1975, Sawka, still in his twenties, participated in the the country under a special program of the State International Festival of Painting at Cagnes-Sur-Mer, France, Department that was inaugurated during World War II Hanna, Jan, and Hanna Maria where he won the “Oscar de la Peinture” and the award of the to rescue people outstanding in their fields who were Sawka, 1985. President of the Republic of France for “Innovation in the Art under threat of Nazi oppression. In the United States he Photo by Krys of Painting.” The winning paintings were From My Head and I would continue to develop his career, forging his unique Krawczyk. See My Great Theater, in which he combined engraving/intaglio place in American culture. printmaking techniques with traditional painting. For From My Head, Sawka created 216 prints from an engraving of a head. He Initially, Sawka made a living by creating political painted each print uniquely to represent different moments in commentary illustrations for the Op-Ed page of the New a narrative progression. He assembled the hand-painted prints York Times. He embarked on an active gallery career into a single composition, which, when viewed from a distance, predominantly in New York and Los Angeles, but with has its own aesthetic composition as an abstract work. When occasional shows in other cities in the United States and viewed at close range, the painting shows a narrative of a abroad. At this same time, he worked as a set designer person’s thoughts and dreams, together with the events of their with off-Broadway theaters, including the Samuel life. Sawka used this approach in many artworks throughout his Beckett Theater, Harold Clurman Theater, and Jean career, working across disciplines, with the goal of creating an Cocteau Repertory. In 1982, he participated in the “Let aesthetic that experience held true when the work was viewed Poland Be Poland” campaign, the American response to at both close proximity and from a distance. the establishment of martial law, continuing his support for political freedom in his country of origin. The AFL-CIO In 1976, Sawka was expelled from Poland for his artistic and and both political parties sold his “Solidarity” poster in oppositionist activities. He, his wife Hanna “Hanka”, and their the millions, raising money to support the labor union recently born child, Hanna Maria, emigrated to France, thanks that would eventually bring down communism. In 1983, to an invitation from the Centre Georges Pompidou, to become he became Artist-in-Residence at the Pratt Manhattan one of the first artists-in-residence at the newly opened center. Graphics Center, where he created his critically That same year, Sawka represented France and the Pompidou acclaimed fine print folio, A Book of Fiction. Center with an exhibition of his work in the United States at the Aspen Art and Design Conference that was being held in honor In 1985, commercial gallery success allowed the Sawka of the Bicentennial of the United States. While living in France, family to buy a home with a structure for a studio in his career continued to develop rapidly. This drew the attention High Falls, a hamlet in Ulster County, New York. In 1987, of the communist regime in Poland, where the hope had been on his wedding anniversary, Jan Sawka’s mother-in-law 6 Jan Sawka: The Place of Memory (The Memory of Place) 7 was brutally murdered in an apparent political assassination. The public art and architecture proposal. From 1998–2004, Sawka family was devastated not only by the death of Hanna he travelled to Japan multiple times to create “UMU” Sawka’s mother, but also by the impossibility of returning to sculptures, artworks in which Sawka used cutting-edge Poland for the funeral. technology to articulate his artistic visions. In 2003, Sawka won a Gold Medal at the Florence Biennial of 1989 was a very significant year for Jan Sawka and his family.