Arend Dickmann

Technique: granite sculpture

Dimensions:

Object: Bogdan Markowski’s sculpture of Arend Dickmann 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.

Bogdan Markowski commemorated Arend Dickmann, a Dutchman living in Gdańsk, admiral of the Polish Navy, captain and owner of a merchant ship. The sculpture consists of two elements: a stone with a preserved natural shape, which serves as a plinth of sorts, and a sphere with the image of Dickmann’s face placed at one of its shorter sides. Dickmann was portrayed in accordance with his images known from paintings, with full cheeks and a bushy moustache. The form of the object may be seen as a reference to contemporary tombstones. A symbol of the Polish royal ensign, i.e. an armed arm with a sabre in hand, is carved in the dark grey stone. This is a reference not only to Dickmann’s profession, but above all to his participation in the Battle of Oliwa. This is the only extant element of the sculpture; the part in the form of a pale pink sphere with a representation of the sailor’s face has not survived. The artist treated the whole sculpture in a very characteristic way, trying to present the internal structure of the stone in which he worked.

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: Bogdan Markowski (b. 1945 in Lublin) is a sculptor mostly working in durable materials, such as granite, marble and bronze. Apart from carving in stone, he also creates polished bronze statues, bringing out the full potential of light offered by this material. He graduated from the Faculty of Sculpture of the State School of Visual Arts (PWSSP) in Gdańsk – the present-day Academy of Fine Arts. He has shown his work at many solo and group exhibitions and taken part in numerous plein-air sculpture workshops. Markowski’s outdoor sculptures may be admired in Witoszyn, where the artist has his studio. He is also the author of monumental competition sculptures erected in Zamość, Lubartów, Zwierzyniec and Wieprzem as well as Burgas (Bulgaria), Debrecen (Hungary), Villers-le-Lac and La Bresse (France) and Inami (Japan). Markowski designed the statuettes awarded during the Gala of the 100 most influential people in health care and the popular statue of Werniks the dog on the market square in Kazimierz Dolny – the first statue of a mongrel dog in Poland.

Condition of the object: partly damaged

Owner/guardian: Gdańsk Community Foundation

Author of the entry: Dorota Kucharczyk