Torso – sculpture

Technique: granite sculpture

Dimensions: 90 cm (H), 35 cm (W), 37 cm (D)

Object: Stanisław Horno-Popławski’s work made of light pink granite shows a life-size female torso with delicate, rounded shapes. The realistic representational sculpture – devoid of arms, legs and head – is shown from the neck down to mid-thigh. By raising the arms and slightly bending the torso, the artist imparted greater lightness to the statue and introduced asymmetry into the composition. This fragmentary form is meant to refer to the legacy of ancient art. The work was made around 1956; it was acquired by the National Museum in Gdańsk directly from the artist in 1973. Since 1976, Torso has formed part of the open-air sculpture exhibition in Oliwa Park. It is placed on a 105 cm high granite plinth measuring 38 × 44 cm at the base. The statue is not signed.

Place: The sculpture is integrated into the natural landscape of the northern part of the Adam Mickiewicz Park in Oliwa. It forms part of the Gallery of Contemporary Gdańsk Sculpture from the collection of the National Museum in Gdańsk, created on the initiative of the Museum, the District Board of the Association of Polish Artists and Designers (ZPAP) and the City Council. The outdoor gallery, showcasing works by artists from different generations, was officially opened on 30 March 1976.

Information about the author:

Stanisław Horno-Popławski (b. 1902 in Kutaisi, Georgia, d. 1997 in Gdańsk) studied sculpture in Prof. Tadeusz Breyer’s studio at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts. Between 1932 and 1939, he worked at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Stephen Báthory University in Vilnius. After the war, he started lecturing at the School of Fine Arts in Białystok, then – between 1946 and 1949 – he worked as professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. In 1949 he moved to Gdańsk, where he took over the Faculty of Sculpture of the State School of Visual Arts (PWSSP) – the present-day Academy of Fine Arts. Between 1951 and 1954, he was the main sculpture designer during the reconstruction of Gdańsk’s Główne Miasto.

Horno-Popławski was the author of numerous statues. Before World War II, he made the monument to bishop Bandurski in the Vilnius Cathedral (1937) and Washerwomen, a sculpture placed in Białystok’s Planty park (1938). His post-1945 works include the monument to Adam Mickiewicz in front of the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw (1955), the monument to Julian Marchlewski in Włocławek (1962), the monument to Stefan Żeromski in Rozewie (1963), the monument to Henryk Sienkiewicz in Bydgoszcz (1968), the monument to Maria Konopnicka in Kalisz (1969), the monument to Karol Szymanowski (1971) and Jan Kiliński (1973), both in Słupsk. The artist’s works are held at the National Museums in Warsaw, Gdańsk, Krakow and Poznań as well as the L. Wyczółkowski Museum in Bydgoszcz and the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom.

Condition of the object: awaiting renovation

Owner/guardian: The National Museum in Gdańsk

Author of the entry: Andrzej Zagrobelny