Antoni Miszewski Portrait Sculptures, 2010 by Igor

ANTONI LUBICZ MISZEWSKI PORTRAIT SCULPTURES

PRESENTED BY KRZYSZTOF MISZEWSKI M.A.

2010 REPUBLISHED 2018

CONTENTS PAGE: 

‘QUOTES’

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PHOTOGRAPHS OF PORTRAIT SCULPTURES

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QUEEN ELIZABETH II

I - III

SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL

IV - VII

BERNARD SHAW

VIII - X

MARSHAL MONTGOMERY

XI - XIII

ANTONI MISZEWSKI BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

NOTES 

QUEEN ELIZABETH II PORTRAIT SCULPTURE

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SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL PORTRAIT SCULPTURE

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BERNARD SHAW PORTRAIT SCULPTURE

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MARSHAL MONTGOMERY PORTRAIT SCULPTURE

‘QUOTES’ Director of The National Portrait Gallery Sandy Nairne in his introduction says that the aim is:

“to promote through the medium of portraits the appreciation and understanding of the men and women who have made and are making British history and culture, and …, to promote the appreciation and understanding of portraiture in all media” Among his sculptural notes Antoni Miszewski wrote:

“It is easy to forget people of Great Heart - the memory needs to be made permanent in bronze, marble - so that they become the pride of coming generations” The above two quotes are expressing in different words the same ideas, the purpose and aims of portrait sculpture. Sculpture can last for centuries and it has to convey the character and achievements of the person depicted. Sculpture can be educational and inspiring if it is good. It can make following generations understand their history and enable them to be proud of past achievements. Sculpture can convey sometimes a sense which is difficult to express in words. I was brought up, as a little boy, in my father's workshop and I was familiar with the artistic profession, it's methods, tools and hard, hard work. But also when I was older he was telling me about his problems, aims and efforts. Once I remember he told me that getting a likeness of a person in sculpture is only a part of the endeavour. To a sculptor of father's talent and experience probably not the most difficult thing to achieve. What is difficult to convey is the inner character of the person, their achievement and essence of their life.

ANTONI MISZEWSKI 1889 – 1957

Sculptor, Architect, Soldier, European He found himself in Paris at the age of 16, having been imprisoned in Poland by Russians in 1905 for revolutionary activities and miraculously escaped. He finished his education and studied Beaux Arts in Paris. He was very talented portrait painter, but when the war broke out he joined Polish Legions in Kraków. He was wounded four times fighting with Russians, but then was taken prisoner by the Germans and released in November 1918. When in the West the end of war meant that every body could relax and turn his efforts to building peace, Poland was attacked in 1919 by the Soviets Bolshevik Army determined to bring revolution to the whole Europe. In August 1920 Bolsheviks were at suburbs of Warsaw. This is well documented and described by Lord Abernon in the Book “Eighteenth - most important World Battle” , - thanks to Polish counter offensive the Soviets were repulsed and thoroughly beaten. My Father then was a Capitan commanding a regiment. Soviets were chased as far as Latvia when “Riga” peace pact was signed. My Father finished High Staff School and was promoted to major with a diploma and engaged in the General Staff in Intelligence Service. In 1929 he resigned his commission and devoted himself to sculpture and architecture (Poland, Warsaw).

He did many portraits of prominent people and many monuments existed in Poland. He won many artistic awards for his works in Poland and France.

Halina Konopacka Man’s Head (Olympic Champion 1928)

Mrs Górska

Andrzej Strug (Poet) gen. Kuczeba

prof. van Werts

Baltic Fisherman

Marszalek Józef Piłsudski

Stanisławów

Torun, Poland

In Varna, Bulgaria there is standing a large monument Mausoleum made by him.

He formed a partnership with an architect friend Julian Puterman – Sadlowski in architectural firm and there were many buildings in Warsaw which had his cooperation and carry his sculptures.

In Gdynia the sea port arrival building still stands due to his planning involvement but his sculpture was removed.

Powszechna Wystawa Krajowa 1929 Poznan (National Expo 1929 Poznan)

After the war most of his art was either destroyed or hidden for political reasons.

After “Solidarity” and 1989 when the Communist regime collapsed in one locality people rebuilt the monument of Marshal Pilsudski on a horse by their own means and the monument stands now and I was invited to the unveiling.

During Second World War father was Polish Military Attaché in Sofia Bulgaria and then in France. When France collapsed Father was told to go “under ground” and organise resistance to Germans and help many Polish and Allied soldiers to get back to England. This he did successfully from 1940 to 1943 in South of France using his sculpturing as a perfect cover.

Gilly

Girls Head

Paderewski

Marshal Pétain

Florian Sokolow

plk.dr Sokolowski

But in 1943 he was arrested by Gestapo and imprisoned in Lyon. He came to this Country (England) in June 1945 in a rather sorry state after prison and illness. After being demobbed he settled in London and devoted himself to sculpture. Immediately after the war there was little demand for art so he did not exhibit or sold any of his work, he could work art for art sake, which suited him well, but he was planning an exhibition in London at a later date.

August Zalewski

Worker

Paul Valery

Bernard Shaw

Queen Elizabeth II

Jan Matejko

Francis of Assasi

Winston Churchill

gen. Sikorski

Fryderyk Chopin

Montgomery

Unfortunately his heart stopped and he died in October 1957. KRZYSZTOF MISZEWSKI

DEKORATIONS AND MEDALS ANTONI MISZEWSKI 10

QUEEN ELIZABETH II (1952) PORTRAIT SCULPTURE

Queen Elizabeth II (1952) by Antoni Miszewski Plaster Height 44 cm Width 39 cm(shoulder), 26 cm (head) Depth 27 cm

Elizabeth II (1952) Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, Daughter of George VI, Queen of the United Kingdom from 1953 Sculptures will last centuries and they have to convey to future generations the contributions and values each person represents. They have to make next generation of people proud of their past. The portraits have to act as models and inspiration to coming generations. Sculpture has to convey not only likeness â&#x20AC;&#x201C; photos give likeness, but show also soul, character and destination of the person depicted. Sculptures are in three dimensions that means they have to be interesting and aesthetically pleasing from any angle, back, sides as well as front. But they also have to show the person in other dimensions and suggest that there are higher or other dimensions to life than the procreation and consumption. To a sculptor children and youth present extra difficult problem, because character and beauty are shown in a very subtle way. Artist avoided or made caricatures. Father was well aware of it and previously tested himself and made a head of a young girl specially to express youthfulness and innocence. He succeeded and won some prize with that head in a Paris exhibition.

The same is with the Princess, he managed to give likeness, youthful beauty, character and royal majesty. Maybe that’s why he made the Princess a ¾ figure – from the knees upwards. We have it in the photograph in his workshop. This head is only the upper part of this sculpture. The figure was slightly damaged after fathers death when it was moved. Only the head without the figure and diadem was saved. We are on the way to reconstruct the whole figure as it was in the photograph.

Father sculpted Princes future Queen Elizabeth II when she got married to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and the young couple were most popular with British people and abroad. When the king George the VI died in 1952 the preparations for coronation started. My father finished war service and was demobbed in London and could return to and concentrate on sculpting. During the war he was military attaché in Sofia and when France collapsed and was occupied by Germans he was given orders to go ‘under ground’ and organise resistance and to help get soldiers and airmen who found themselves on the continent to get back to Britain. This he did successfully for three years, 1940-1943. When he was arrested by Gestapo and imprisoned in Lyon. He was very grateful that fate allowed him to come safely from the war and return to his beloved sculpting. In that spirit he decided to do the portrait of the Princess and future queen.

As usual he did full research into the character of the person he was going to do portrait of. When in Paris before the World War I where he studied painting at Beaux Arts, he also studied anthropology unofficially, simply out of interest. As it were, in 1918 when a prisoner of war in Germany he spent a year with a professor of psychology who gave him thorough grounding in that subject. It helped him later on in the General Staff where he was engaged in intelligence service. He had a flair for it and became an expert in profiling and deciphering peoples personalities. In the case of the princess future queen Elizabeth II he worked of many photographs and also saw her in many documentary films –he belonged to a cinema club in Oxford Street. Only when he felt very familiar with the subject that he thought of actually sculpting. As usual he had to have a wooden base to which he fixed a metal structure. It usually involved some welding and drilling some crossbars. This was covered with plasticine, slow process, because the plasticine had to be of right temperature to be mealable and to stick together when hammered with a hammer. When in Poland he started he used for that purpose clay, but it aggravated his rheumatism and the head had to be kept moist until it was cast in plaster of Paris. So in spite of the extra expenditure he used in London plasticine. By the way I think he used to make the plasticine himself from basic ingredients. Once he had a lump of plasticine fixed on a solid metal structure he was ready to start sculpting. He was using Michael Angelo’s method which meant that the sculpture/head was already in the lump of the material. All it needed was to take the unnecessary material for the sculpture to appear. In this method it was important that the sculptor had to have in his mind the picture of the finished product. That’s why it took my father a long time to research and cogitate before he attempted to sculpt a portrait. When he actually started sculpting it did not take him long, one or two days – it is wrong to talk about days because he worked at nights when it was quiet and he was not interrupted. This initial quick sculpting was usually followed by a period of at least three months when he was finishing the head. The sculpture had to be covered by some cloth when he finished a session. Uncovered after a few days and when again he spent a night improving it adding details or making sure the head looked alright from every angle back, front and sides. Sometimes the base had to be improved and added. My fathers heads when ready had to be cast in plaster of Paris which he used to do himself, but the final sculpture was meant to be in bronze. That was done by specialist firms who specialize in artistic casting. The artist had to decide which colour or patina was right for the head and on what base it had to stand. Usually it was a cube of marble and sometimes a cube and the base. The colour an d size of the cube had also to be decided. In the case of the Princess Elizabeth the artist decided to make a ¾ figure – from the knees upwards. This involved sculpting the figure and then dressing it up in proper clothes, he gave it a lot of thought so that materials looked soft and natural. It required a lot of experimenting and observing. Often he had to saw actual robes and dress the figure. Once he decided what it had to look like he had to spray the clothes to stiffen it and then again to stiffen it some more with plaster of Paris. So the bigger sculptures had to be separated into parts which could be fixed together later on. The head of Princess Elizabeth was part of that ¾ figure. The figure was damaged when it was moved after his death but will be restored and put together. Casting of the

whole sculpture in bronze will be expensive so it wont be done until there is an actual demand for it. The head is now in plaster but it can be cast in bronze any time and the original diadem added. The art and the liveliness is in the head itself, it is very pleasing natural beauty of a young woman, yet very distinguished likeness of the future queen. The coronation took place in 1953 and the new queen with the Duke of Edinburgh made a tour of London and passed the Westbourne Park Road 194 where father had his house and workshop on the corner. He established a big mast in the corner of his garden where the procession was going to pass. The mast with Union Jack and Polish white red flag and also there stood in the garden the Âž figure queen in plaster. He said he does not know if the royal couple noticed it but many neighbours gathered in the corner of the garden to look at the procession and the sculpture. A little kitten he had as a friend in his lonely life had climbed the top of the mast and the neighbours had to call the fire brigade to take it down. KRZYSZTOF MISZEWSKI

SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL PORTRAIT SCULPTURE

Sir Winston Churchill (1874 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 1965) by Antoni Miszewski Plaster Height 43 cm Width 24 cm (head), 48 cm (collar) Depth 30 cm (head), 37 cm (collar) Father put a lot of work into the sculpture of Churchill - he appreciated his statesmanship, his vision and healthy instinct for defending Britain and its culture. After all he made sure that Great Britain was on the winning side in the Second World War. He read many books about Churchill and those that Churchill wrote himself. He belonged to a cinema club in Oxford St in order to see and study many documentaries with Churchill in them. After forming a vision of the sculpture he wanted to make he started physical preparations. He had to have a base and a metal structure to hold the plasticine - he could not work in clay because it gave him rheumatism. First he built lots of plasticine on the structure by making it playable and warm and making it stick together with a hammer. Then came the process of taking away unwanted material and the shape of the sculpture began to show itself. He worked usually at night, by himself in peace and quiet. When the head was formed he used to cover it with cloth and only uncover it when he was working - so that he could come to every session with a fresh eye. To my father the sculpture had not only to show a likeness, but liveliness and character 15

most importantly a portrait had to be lively, it had to have life so that when you looked at it you did not see the material it was made of, but that you were looking at a person that might move at any moment. The long period of finishing the head involved in making it interesting all round, front, sides and back. Father had to decide on the harmony of lines, flat surfaces profiles and shape against different coloured backgrounds. The details of the face, hair, ears and eyes had to be attended to as also the base, the collar, the clothes - they had to be harmonised with the whole sculpture. To give a natural look he often experimented with real clothes - so he had to act as a tailor. The collar had to have a natural look and similarly the hair on the head. Yet the peripheral aspects of the sculpture could not be over worked, they had to give an impression of artistry, a lightness of touch and be not completely finished. This process of finishing a head was rather long, 3 months, 6 months or even a year, because father experimented. This meant that he made casts in plaster of paris at various stages and then experimented with the head in plasticine. In that way there were a number of versions of the head made before he decided which one was best. Then came the stage of photography - photos could add or take away from a sculpture. Therefore it was important to experiment with lights, photographic cameras, - distance and height of the camera etc. At that stage father wanted to see Winston Churchill live - he had some titled friend in the Conservative Party who took him to the Party Conference where father had the opportunity to sit opposite Churchill for nearly two hours. He armed himself with three photos of his sculpture, front and both sides and with pencil. He sketched details and ideas as to how to improve his sculpture. This description, in brief, tells how father tackled sculpting a portrait - of course it is just a sketch in my words. (In fact it took much longer to actually do it) Father spent lots of time in solitude - he needed that to visualise the person and future sculpture. Father had tremendous power of visualisation, concentration and knowledge of human heads and faces which he acquired studying anthropology. He came to Paris at the age of 16 in 1905 - did his baccalaureate then studied at Ecole des Beaux-Arts. At the same time he was interested in anthropology and attended lecture in Boulevard St Germain for a number of years. By then he had become a proficient painter. He did landscapes but he became a talented portrait painter. This was during a period of eight years because in 1914 when the World War broke out he went to Krakow in Poland to join the Legions formed by J Pilsudski - to fight the Russians alongside the Austrian Army. He fought in the Legions for three years during which time he was known for drawing excellent portraits in pencil on paper. After the war we had, on the walls of our house, big portraits of his parents that he had done in oil. These, among others including work by Olga Boznanska, were lost or destroyed during the Second World War. There is one drawing in pencil on paper in my possession now of my uncle Wieslaw Wagner which father did in about 1925 in the garden of my maternal grand parents house.

After the First World War father was an officer in the General Staff of the Polish Army but in 1926 he started to sculpt in his spare time. His works won a number of prizes in national competitions and in 1929 he resigned from the army and started sculpting full time. With an architect friend he formed an Architectural Partnership firm and won many competitions for buildings and monuments all over Poland. Three buildings survived the Second World War and one equestrian monument has been reproduced and stands in its original position in Ostrowia Mazowiecka. Two heads are in the National Museums in Warsaw and I have recovered four heads myself from private persons. The rest was destroyed or lost. I plan to do a search and hope to recover more. At the beginning of the Second World War father was taken back into the army and sent as an Military AttachĂŠ to Sofia in Bulgaria. Eventually he found himself in France at the time when France was collapsing under the German Blitzkrieg . Father was told to go under ground to help the resistance to the German occupation. This he did successfully under cover of his sculptural practice in the form of a studio in Antibes. He specialised in helping British and Allied airmen and soldiers to get back to England. At that time he sculpted good heads of Paderewski - the Polish composer and pianist and Marshal Petain, both of whom he knew personally. In 1943 he was arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned and interrogated in Lyon. He came to the UK in June 1945 in a very sad state after his time in prison and an illness. But he quickly recovered and after being demobbed in 1947 he devoted himself to sculpting again. He was planning to make an exhibition of his work in 1958 in London - there would have been about 25 heads figures but he died of a heart attack on October 5th 1957. I was then starting a farm in Suffolk near Saxmundham. Most of the work was saved and preserved there . Since retiring from farming I have been able to start to attend to what needs to be done with them. Four are English figures - Churchill, The Queen of 1952, Bernard Shaw and Montgomery. Five are connected with France and the rest are with Poland. They are in plaster of Paris and some in bronze. I intend to keep the original casts that came out of my fathers studio but will make limited copies in bronze or plaster as required. KRZYSZTOF MISZEWSKI

BERNARD SHAW PORTRAIT SCULPTURE

George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950) by Antoni Miszewski Plaster Height 50cm Width 30cm Depth 36cm George Bernard Shaw was the celebrity whom my father did not see alive, but as usual he knew his subject for sculpting very well – he read his works and books about him. He had a collection of Bernard Shaw photos and saw him in documentary films. In Warsaw in, about 1935 when I was about twelve I remember my father went to see the Bernard Shaw play, which was translated and staged in a Warsaw theatre before it was on a stage in London. I then heard some quotes from the play – of course in Polish. So father had knowledge and great admiration for Bernard Shaw, therefore it was most natural for him to choose this person as a subject for his portrait sculpture. I don’t remember when father spoke of Bernard Shaw but he did say that ‘he thought for millions’. There were other special preparations for this sculpture and I got involved in it. He made an acquaintances with some Chelsea pensioners to use them as models and study face features and hands similar to those of Bernard Shaw. I was called for that occasion because father wanted to make a cast of their hands. Father had quite a large

collection of casts of hands in plaster which he has been using as models for his sculpture. This entertaining of three Chelsea pensioners in fathers workshop – was quite an occasion which they enjoyed as well as we did. Later on we were invited by them to visit their cubicles in Chelsea. George Bernard Shaw was a great writer and philosopher, he made a great impact on his generation and will surely affect future generations as well. Father’s sculpture will immortalise George Bernard Shaw. It will impress future generations by its artistic and aesthetic qualities. They will want to know what he wrote and thought and that way he will not only ‘think for millions’ but will also teach and inspire them to think for themselves. In this sculpture George Bernard Shaw is presented at his advanced age and in a thoughtful mood. A high forehead, bushy eyebrows, suggesting a deep thought and concentration. This head needs a good lighting and needs to be placed high enough to be looked up towards. KRZYSZTOF MISZEWSKI

MARSHAL MONTGOMERY PORTRAIT SCULPTURE

Field Marshal Montgomery (1887 – 1976) by Antoni Miszewski Plaster Height 46 cm Width 40 cm (collar), 32 cm (head) Depth 33 cm collar), 30 cm (head) Bernard Law Montgomery – Field Marshal, Viscount Montgomery of Alamein He won an important allied victory at El Alamein in north Africa and later commanded the allied ground forces in Normandy in 1944. He was the most victorious general during WW2. Polish Second Corp was part of his British 8th Army in the Middle East and afterwards in Italy when Polish troops conquered Monte Casino under his all over command. Montgomery was very much appreciated for his character, thorough technical preparation and leadership. In 1944 Montgomery was commanding all allied troops including Polish First Corp and First Armoured Division which distinguished themselves in Caen, Falaise and then fighting Germans all the way to Holland and Germany. Father could not make himself to sculpt anybody for whom he had no admiration and did not inspire him in some way. He wanted to sculpt only individuals of which future generations could be proud. For my father sculpture had to educate, suggest some personal excellence or achievement. That’s why his sculptures showed strength and were aesthetically appealing – they had to set high standards and last centuries.

He never sculpted just for money. He often met with remarks like: “If you could do some modern, abstract sculpture we could sell it easily – your kind of art is not fashionable nowadays” but father never worried about it – he had clearly the purpose of sculpture in his mind and was absolutely certain that sooner of later his sculptures will be appreciated. That’s why he measured himself with the best masters, sculptors like Michael Angelo, Donatello, Rodin. He worked shortly at Rodin’s workshop till Rodin found that he was an art student and fired him. Then he made friends with Charles Despiau and worked for him a little, but by then he was already an established and successful portrait painter. When the First World War broke out, he left Paris and all his works and went to Poland to join Józef Pilsudski who in Krakow started to form the Legions – beginning of the Polish Army – to fight the Russians! During the war he was known under the name of Antoni Lubicz Miszewski - Plug (Orski) He drew many pencil and paper portraits – but I don’t know it many of them survived. After the First World War my Father remained in the army. He studied at the General Staff School, he was then staff major and worked in the General Staff in the Intelligence Service. But in spare time he was painting and sculpting. Being himself a soldier father had a great affinity to Bernard Law Montgomery – appreciated his role and measure of his achievements. I know that the idea of war is very unfashionable nowadays, but that’s probably as a reaction to the past war – which after all is not that distant. Nobody likes war – we were attacked by Germans and ruled by Adolf Hitler. Young generations don’t know how close we were to losing that war. They don’t know how close we were to the German invasion of England and the United Kingdom. If that succeeded they would now be speaking German. They don’t know how great an achievement it was bringing Americans on our side to help to win that war. Father had to make Montgomery strong and monumental, when in fact he was of small stature and of rather thin and undistinguished face. But Montgomery was a great general and a great leader of men. Father had to express this fact in this sculpture. Father had an opportunity to see Marshal Montgomery in person when he was visiting Polish First Armoured Division. He talked to Polish soldiers and had to inspire them to go and fight German troops and win battles in spite of hardship and fatal losses which were inevitable. Montgomery was a great leader of men and the result is that we are now living in a prosperous and free country and we can speak English. KRZYSZTOF MISZEWSKI