O „Twórcowni” Stacha z Warty Szukalskiego po raz czwarty (i ostatni?)*

Abstract

LECHOSLAW LAMENSKI (The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin) / On Stach of Warta Szukalski’s “Twórcownia” for the fourth (and last?) time
Stanislaw Szukalski (1893–1987), better known as Stach of Warta Szukalski, the charismatic leader of the Szczep “Rogate Serce” (The “Horned Heart” Tribe), an art group operating in Krakow from 1929 to 1936, considered that Polish art was in a state of decline. In Szukalski’s opinion, a contributing factor was the defective system of teaching at the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts, unnecessarily preferring worthless French art. Therefore, the academy should be liquidated, and in its place a “Twórcownia” (“Creativity Workshop”) should be established, i.e. an atelier where young people would study exclusively under Stach’s guidance and according to his innovative method of education. This novelty was to consist, among other things, in drawing with pencil and then painting with watercolours, on square sheets of paper, subjects of content taken preferably from Poland’s historical past. Szukalski considered wisdom and memory work to be the highest values of the “creative” method – which the members of the Szczep “Rogate Serce” were to put into practice – denying the role of talent altogether. The artist attempted to open “Twórcownia” at least four times. First in 1929 in Katowice, then in his villa near Kazimierz Dolny, in 1930 in Wola Justowska, between Villa Decius and Kościuszko Mound, and in 1936 in Krakow. These were all unsuccessful attempts – due to the difficult character of Stach of Warta Szukalski, lack of money and, above all, because his utopian ideas and concepts were completely detached from reality.