PANTEON KULTURY POLSKIEJ (1953–1961) XAWEREGO DUNIKOWSKIEGO – MIĘDZY ARTYZMEM A RZEŹBĄ ZALEŻNĄ OD IDEOLOGII
THE PANTHEON OF POLISH CULTURE (1953–1961) BY XAWERY DUNIKOWSKI – BETWEEN ARTISTRY AND SCULPTURE DEPENDENT ON IDEOLOGY

Summary/Abstract: The text describes the post-war series of portrait sculptures by Xawery Dunikowski – which not often are a subject of substantial analysis – in which the artist refers to his pre-war Wawel Heads (1925–1928). The extended approach to the artistic merit of the work (style) has been augmented with its contextual setting (the circumstances of its creation, ideological references) to indicate the significant formal and thematic ambivalence of the cycle as well as its multifaceted quality. In his sculpted heads Dunikowski manifests his curiosity as to the human individual, artistically reinter- preting the peculiarly Olympian, deified representatives of communism. Above all, it confirms the stylistic autonomy of the Pantheon, which dominates over ideological dependencies. At the same time Dunikowski attests to his undisputed craftsmanship as the doyen of Polish sculpture – the insightful realist and muckraker.

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