Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz
Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz

Summary/Abstract: In this fragment of a book currently in print, Aleksander Jackowski reminisces about the outstanding sculptor Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz, recalling the post-war years, the 1950s and the 1960s in the artist’s oeuvre. This period certainly differed from the contemporary conditions of Polish art ”His era required memory and forced the artist to tackle the setting of lies and the gag of censorship. Today, young artists are free of such determinants and feel no need to commemorate anything. The world of their imagination is open. They astonish and even shock, without having to paying any price for doing so (...) Could a portrait of an artist, even such an acclaimed one, be of any interest at a time when all the components of art are changing, and when it has become outright embarrassing to speak about the categories of beauty and consider what which is ethical (...)?” The proposed text is also an attempt at personal meditation on memory: ”We live in such rapid times that unrecorded memory vanishes instantly. Art? Everyday there appear more painters and sculptors than in the whole history of mankind. The rushing tide of facts is simply enormous. Which young intelligent person today knows anything about Tadeusz Sieklucki, Tadeusz Brzozowski, Józef Gielniak or Jerzy Panek? About the great artists? What are you working on at the moment? – I was asked by a female journalist from an important daily. – I’m writing about Jarnuszkiewicz... – And who’s he? Well, I am writing so that she would know”

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