Günter Grass

Technique: granite sculpture

Material: granite

Dimensions: –

Object: Anna Bem-Borucka’s sculpture of Günter Grass forms part of the “Great Citizens of Gdańsk” section of the Gdańsk Open-Air Sculpture Gallery. It was created in 2008 during the Kashubian Granite Sculpture Plein-Air, which took place in the Kashubian Ethnographic Park in Wdzydze Kiszewskie. The open-air workshop was attended by 11 artists representing a generation of masters and a generation of students. All of them were asked to depict famous inhabitants of Gdańsk in granite. A total of 11 sculptures were produced and subsequently placed in Gdańsk’s Ronald Reagan Park. At present, the gallery is composed of ten works, one of them incomplete; Bente Kluge’s statue of Lech Wałęsa has disappeared.

Anna Bem-Borucka decided to sculpt the figure of Günter Grass, the Gdańsk-born writer, Nobel Prize winner, draughtsman and sculptor, honorary citizen of Gdańsk. The sculpture was placed on a plinth. The artist portrayed the writer in the form of a bust, in a schematic and simplified way, with the lower part of the torso unfinished. The bust is representational, i.e. elaborated on all sides. The sculpture is in keeping with the artistic character of Bem-Borucka’s work, showing a peculiar tension between the suggestion of a smooth structure and its deliberate coarseness.

Place: The “Great Citizens of Gdańsk” Open-Air Sculpture Gallery is located in the park named after President Ronald Reagan, an honorary citizen of Gdańsk. The gallery may be found in the part of the park situated in the Przymorze Wielkie neighbourhood. The 85 ha park stretches along the coastal belt of Gdańsk, encompassing the districts of Przymorze Wielkie, the western part of Brzeźno and the eastern part of the Żabianka-Wejhera-Jelitkowo-Tysiąclecia quarter. This area used to be occupied by temporary allotment gardens and wasteland. The plan to develop the seaside area for recreational purposes was drawn up in 2001 and implemented in stages until 2014. In addition to areas where one can relax, engage in physical activity or make a bonfire, the park was diversified with outflow ponds with living shorelines and nesting islands for waterbirds. In 2008, the Ronald Reagan Park in Gdańsk received a distinction from the Society of Polish Town Planners (TUP), which recognized it as the best managed green space in Poland.

Information about the author: Anna Bem-Borucka (b. 1955 in Sopot) is a sculptor, educator and academic lecturer, who also works with drawing and photography. She graduated from the State School of Visual Arts (PWSSP) in Gdańsk – the present-day Academy of Fine Arts. She completed her degree under Prof. Adam Smolana and did a major in ceramics at Prof. Henryk Lula’s studio. Bem-Borucka has taken part in several dozen exhibitions and symposiums in Poland and abroad (France, Russia, the Netherlands, the UK, Canada, Tunisia, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Germany, Greece, Georgia, Armenia, Israel, Jordan, Czechia, Hungary, Ukraine).

Condition of the object: no remarks

Owner/guardian: Gdańsk Community Foundation

Author of the entry: Dorota Kucharczyk