Józef Sławiński, born in 1905 in Poland and trained there and in Italy as a muralist, first came to Western New York on a visit in 1961-63. He returned in 1964 and lived and worked in the Buffalo Niagara area until his death in 1983.
Sławiński, a remarkably gifted artist whose work has been compared to such great Mexican muralists as Diego Rivera, worked in a variety of media, including fresco, hammered copper, scratched tempera, and wrought iron, but his favorite medium was sgraffito, a subtractive technique involving two or more layers of cement which need to be worked on while still wet. Sławiński extended the technique to four layers of colored cement, a technique that gave magnificent results but was very labor intensive and one that, to the best of our knowledge has not been duplicated in the United States. Though his work is found throughout the US, his richest body of work is in the Buffalo Niagara region.
The ehibit seeks to document Sławiński oeuvre by creating a list of Sławiński's known artworks and by bringing images of his artworks before the public. Some of the images, having been taken by amateur photographers, do not do justice to artist's oeuvre. The dicision to nonetheless post these on the Internet was made in the interest of alerting the public to the scope of Sławiński artistic output.
The mural nature of most of the artist's oeuvre precludes mounting exhibitions of his works. Currently, however, an effort is being made to create a Slawinski Art Trail in the context of the planned Niagara River Greenway since many of his works are within a short distance of the shore of the Niagara River or the adjoining shores of Lake Erie. Properly identified and signposted, the Trail will make locating and viewing his artworks much easier.
comments to: Dr. Peter K. Gessner
|
Info-Poland a clearinghouse of information about Poland, Polish Universities, Polish Studies, etc.
|
|