Daniel Chodowiecki

Technique: granite sculpture

Dimensions: 90 cm (H), 50 cm (L), 30 cm (W)

Object: Czesław Fankidejski’s sculpture of Daniel Chodowiecki 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.

Czesław Fankidejski decided to sculpt the figure of Daniel Chodowiecki, a painter and draughtsman born in Gdańsk. The sculpture was placed on a plinth. It shows a face in a tricorn hat (a three-cornered felt hat for men, with a small crown, fashionable in the 18^th century) emerging from the stone plane. The image of Chodowiecki seems to have been modelled on the artist’s posthumous portrait painted in 1859 by Adolph von Menzel, although the Gdańsk draughtsman’s face looks slightly younger than on the painted counterpart and the glasses are missing. The sculpture is in the form of a bust, with the torso and other elements of the portrait, apart from the face, executed in a very subtle, almost schematic way. Consequently, the viewers’ attention is focused on the face, as it mysteriously emerges from the stone, evoking associations with the draughtsman’s prints. The sculpture made in black granite is worked on all sides, preserving the natural edges of the stone on the sides of Chodowiecki’s representation.

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: Czesław Fankidejski (b. 1981 in Starogard Gdański) studied at the Faculty of Sculpture of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, graduating from Prof. Stanisław Radwański’s studio with a major in stone sculpture reconstruction under the supervision of Stanisław Gierada. His creative practice spans sculpture and theatre. Fankidejski used to be associated with e66 and WL4 collectives/alternative galleries and is currently exploring the arcana of ceramic techniques in his rural studio near Skórcz. He used to be involved with the FETA International Festival of Street and Open-Air Theatres in Gdańsk. He took part in solo and group exhibitions and sculpture plein-airs, and created set designs for theatre and ballet productions. He designed the Saint Hubertus wooden sculpture erected in Belgium in 2011. In his creative practice, Fankidejski focuses on the human being as the author of the surrounding reality.

Condition of the object: no remarks

Owner/guardian: Gdańsk Community Foundation

Sources:

Materials of the Gdańsk Community Foundation

Bibliography:

www.czeslawfankidejski.blogspot.com

www.gdansk.pl

www.gzdiz.gda.pl

www.pomnikowo.eu

Author of the entry: Dorota Kucharczyk