Arthur Schopenhauer

Technique: granite sculpture

Material: granite

Dimensions: –

Object: Bolesław Marschall’s sculpture of Arthur Schopenhauer 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.

Boleslaw Marschall immortalized the figure of Arthur Schopenhauer, the famous philosopher who was born in Gdańsk. The sculpture consists of three parts, with the lowest and at the same time the smallest one serving as the plinth. The middle one already forms part of the sculpture proper: the carved torso of Arthur Schopenhauer dressed in line with 19^th-century men’s fashion. The highest and at the same time largest part of the sculpture shows the philosopher’s face, depicted in line with Schopenhauer’s known portraits. The philosopher’s trademark tousled hairstyle is also rendered in a very faithful way. The facial features are so exact that it is very easy to recognize the bust of the Gdańsk philosopher. Just as the sculpture’s successive elements, seen from top to bottom, are arranged from the largest to the smallest, the colour gradation of the individual parts is opposite to the size – from the brightest in the lowest part to the darkest in the highest. The sculpture is one-sided; it was not elaborated in the back part. This makes it possible to observe the different textures of the stone and the joints used between individual parts of the sculpture.

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: Bolesław Marschall (b. 1938 in Toruń) is a sculptor. He studied sculpture as well as architectural and sculptural design at the State School of Visual Arts (PWSSP) in Gdańsk – the present-day Academy of Fine Arts (at Prof. Stanisław Horno-Popławski’s studio and Prof. Adam Smolana’s studio, respectively). In 1972, he settled in Reszel, where he became the manager of the local castle on behalf of the “Pojezierze” Social and Cultural Association and the Museum of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn. He founded a centre of European art in Reszel, organizing art and cultural events. Marschall is the author of a series of works commemorating Janusz Korczak (Olsztyn, Giessen, Hannover, Paris) and Nicolaus Copernicus (Lidzbark Warmiński, Iława, Mrągowo, Philadelphia). His other famous sculptures include the Monument to the Heroes of the Struggle for the Liberation of Warmia and Mazury (Jakubowy Park, Olsztyn) and Leda with a Swan (Podzamcze Park on the Łyna River, Olsztyn, 1963). The sculptor was portrayed in the biographical documentary Kasztelan (“Castellan”, 1995) written by Janusz Kijowski and directed by Grzegorz Płoch.

Condition of the object: no remarks

Owner/guardian: Gdańsk Community Foundation

Author of the entry: Dorota Kucharczyk