Author: Maksymilian Biskupski (born 1958, Warsaw)
Bronze, contemporary cast
Signed on the back on the lower right: MAX. BISKUPSKI
Property of the Dom Pracy Twórczej in Radziejowice, inv. no. 509/OT-5/2018
Purchased from the artist (2018)
This veristically rendered study of old age depicts Kazimierz Dejmek (1924–2002), one of the most distinguished Polish theatre directors of the second half of the twentieth century. He was known above all for his numerous stagings of Old Polish dramatic texts, innovative productions of Polish classics from Romanticism to the Young Poland movement (including works by Słowacki, Mickiewicz, and Wyspiański), as well as for productions promoting masterpieces of modern Polish drama (notably Gombrowicz and Mrożek). He entered collective memory through his famous Warsaw production of Mickiewicz’s Dziady (Forefathers’ Eve), which was banned by the authorities after fourteen performances on 30 January 1968, triggering student demonstrations and foreshadowing the so-called March Events.
Long, formed bust with naked torso cropped tightly at the shoulders, depicts an old man whose silhouette is slightly inclined frontally and moderately turned right. His monumental, somewhat rescaled head attracts attention by its poignant realism. What dominates is the big protruding ears which are not covered by the flat sweptback hair, chiselled by the long and smooth chisel strokes. High forehead is scored with deep horizontal wrinkles, just like the face marked with deep furrows descending from the nose to pursed thin lips forming a slight grimace. The play of light and shadow within these numerous hollows elicits a rich spectrum of significant emotions across the face.
Text: Elżbieta Charazińska
Editing: Beata Fiugajska
Photo: Piotr Ligier