Unique Zabrza mosaics from the times of PRL

liberte.pl 1 year ago

Artisans who created specified decorations frequently treated this sphere of their creative activities as crafts, so they did not care to advance their achievements in this field. As a result, many mosaics survived until present as anonymous works.

Due to the durability of ceramic cladding – at a comparatively low price – the mosaic proved to be an highly popular method of decorating interior and exterior facades of buildings in the alleged East Block. Artisans who created specified decorations frequently treated this sphere of their creative activities as crafts, so they did not care to advance their achievements in this field. As a result, many mosaics survived until present as anonymous works. Before 1989, publications documenting the artistic life of the Polish People's Republic can seldom find information about mosaic decorations. 1 of the unique works performed in mosaic technology is the decoration of the interior facade in the home of Music and Dance in Zabrze, erected in the late 1950s according to the plan of Zygmunt Majerski and Julian Duchowicz. erstwhile it adorned the dining and amusement area, it is now hidden in 1 of the administration offices. It is an abstract composition, maintained in surviving contrasting colours, consisting, among others, of a concentric arrangement of circles. It may have been performed by an outstanding artist, but his name does not function in literature devoted to the contemporary art of Zabrz. The search for detailed information about this work has not yet produced satisfactory results.

Relatively well recognized and tested are Zabrza ceramic compositions by Norbert Paprotny, which are located in St. Joseph's Church and the fresh Theatre. In the case of St. Joseph's Church we are dealing with a mosaic depicting the image of Our woman of Czestochowa. The artist was, in effect, obliged to keep this presentation in the convention, which would let the faithful to treat his work as a cult image. Nevertheless, the mosaic method allowed Parrotny to introduce certain individual features that can be read as his authorial style.

Undoubtedly, however, Parrotny could show much greater freedom by creating a large format decoration in the theatre hall. It is composed of large elements, so any researchers describe it as not so much a mosaic as a ceramic cladding. It is besides much more abstract, although in any parts of it figure motifs, associated with scenes from fairy tales for children, depicting feasts of kings and wizards, elaborate ladies in court creations, etc. The speech of this work is preserved in extinguished colours. It is dominated by greys, browns and blacks, which is most likely partially due to the method of firing clay utilized to make ceramic elements.

Born in Pavlov (Zabrz River) in 1928, Norbert Paprotny specialized in monumental decorations even during his studies at the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts, which he graduated with a diploma prepared under the direction of Wacław Taranchewski in 1959. From 1959 to 1971 he made respective twelve monumental wall decorations (both in the form of polychrome, as well as mosaics or ceramic paintings) in the sacral and secular interiors in advanced Silesia and Małopolska. In 1972, he emigrated to Switzerland, where he died in 2018. He could afford to do ceramic works thanks to his long relationship with Bolesław Book, an artist connected since 1951 with the Polish People's and Artistic manufacture Cooperative "Kamionka" in Lysa Góra, founded in 1947, specialized in experimenting with this technique.

In 2016, the Krakow investigator of the past of this cooperative, Bożena Kostuch, managed to interview Parrotny, who referred straight to his monumental ceramic paintings from St. Florian's Church in Chorzów. It is worth quoting due to the fact that it gives an thought of the process of making ceramics utilized to arrange the composition of the hall of the Nowy Theatre in Zabrze: “In Kamionce in Lysa Góra with the aid of my friend Bolesław, I started to do my job. For the first time, I found it hard to do this: plates of inactive damp clay 50×35 cm in size arranged in a large area on the level gave me a plane of 5×5 m, or 25 m2 of moist clay. In order to draw a figure composition according to the design, I decided to set a ladder and a long bamboo from above I began to draw individual figures relief in wet clay. After this procedure, I removed the records, making paths in the field. It was only in this arrangement that I could make a drawing of relief and structural figures. After drying and numbering of the plates, the first firing occurred. Then I put the plates on the level by numbering, taking into account the paths between the plates. It was only now that the work began with the large aid of Bolesław the book. Painting of colour composition, grey glazes. Glazes mixed in buckets are almost all with different shades of grey. Buckets have the colour described. The actual colour of painted records only reveals after burning. It is always a minute of large tension. The discs come out of the oven individually and are very beautiful in themselves, but to see the effect of the full composition, we arranged a field of 5×5 m in Kamionki's backyard and from the second level we received the impression of the full picture.”

According to the description presented here, the artist burning the clay lining could not foretell the final colour effect in advance. Additional difficulty was besides the shrinkage of clay as a consequence of firing and possible enamel harm during ceramic production. These circumstances made it much easier to make ornaments with a greater degree of abstraction, where any unforeseen defects could be covered up.

Probably easier than creating a ceramic image was the arrangement of mosaics of finer cubes, which were embedded in wet plaster in accordance with the previously prepared design. 3 mosaics were arranged from specified tiny cubes (called tessers) at the masts of the performance and sports hall (MOSIR, 6 Matejki Street) in Zabrze, which was commissioned in the mid-1970s. They depict skiers moving in the snow, gymnasts practicing with wheels and runners competing in the race. The figures that consist of these compositions are characterized by the skillfully devoted fluidity of movements. They are made in silhouette, but within their contours, there was a hint of shade. In particular, women's characters have a peculiar grace of dance gestures and poses.

Mast mosaics have late been considered a peculiarly crucial work of art in Zabrz's urban space, but it has remained anonymous so far. This problem was solved thanks to oral information obtained from 1 of the hall's constructors, born in 1930 Fortunat Nowakowski, who had late appeared in this sports facility as a consultant. He recalled that this unique band was made by the couple of architects from Warsaw, Danuta and Andrzej Strachocki, who were not known for carrying out akin types of orders.

Danuta Strachocka (1924-1995), from Biedrzycka's house, was first introduced as a designer of the Office of Chemical Construction Prochem in Warsaw, in which she and Jerzy Krajewski and Józef Trojanski developed a general plan of the Police Chemical Plants (1969). Her husband Andrzej Strachocki (1922-2004) gained designation as a associate of architectural teams designing large-scale sports halls. For a time he taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. From 1947 to 1972, he performed quite a few phase plan for theatre plays, including the performance of “Evening of the 3 Kings” directed by Witold Skaruch. In 1957 he prepared projects to rebuild the Universal Theatre in Łódź. He besides designed book covers. For example, it is written by the cover of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book, entitled “The Scarlet Literature”, which was published in 1947. He collaborated with Maciej Gintowt and Maciej Krasiński, among others, in the plan of the Provincial Widowiskowo-Sport Hall in Katowice (Spodek, 1959-1961), the Central office building at 165-169 Piotrkowska Street in Łódź (1964-1972) and the Widwiskowo-Sport Hall "Podprom" in Rzeszów (1973-1989). Strachocci graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of Warsaw University of Technology in 1952, although already during planet War II they learned the basics of their future profession on secret sets. During the business they were active in the Home Army. They were known, among others, as counterfeiters of conspiracy documents. They married inactive during the war, in 1943. Right after the liberation, they began working at the Theatre of the City of Warsaw, mainly as the creators of the phase design. In the autumn, they were employed in the inventory department of the Capital Reconstruction Office. Although later their careers had split, they took on respective common orders. 1 of specified orders was the execution of illustrations for an adult elementary, issued in Warsaw in the 1940s.

Reminiscing their work on the Zabrzeński mosaics, Fortunat Nowakowski presented them as a couple working together. However, it seems that any stylistic differences can be seen in the improvement of individual plinths for masts. Gymnastics seem somewhat different than skiers and runners. However, it is hard to clearly find whether the differences between the various compositions arise from different aesthetic tastes of the spouses. possibly in the future they will be able to delegate another specified works to them, and then the authorisation of their work will not be so difficult.

This article is just a preliminary examination of a subject that inactive requires many additions. Its primary merit is to establish by Danuta and Andrzej Strachocki in relation to a mosaic of masts decorated around the sports hall MOSIR in Zabrze. It should be hoped that the findings presented here will draw the attention of researchers to the somewhat neglected so far and will contribute to further studies in this area.