Professor Adam Stalony-Dobrzański - the Master and the Teacher of Jerzy Nowosielski

Abstract

When analyzing the history of Polish religious art of the XX century, we can affirm that the entire creative work of Adam Stalony-Dobrzański, professor at Kraków Academy of Fine Arts, remains in the shadow of the artistic output of Prof. Jerzy Nowosielski, his student and follower. Jerzy Nowosielski had a noticeable impact on the interest in the problems of the sacred in modern painting. The follower of Prof. Adam Stalony-Dobrzański was inspired by the art and the spirituality of Eastern Christianity. Prof. Jerzy Nowosielski filled some kind of a void in Polish religious art in the period of its evident crisis. Prof. Jerzy Nowosielski together with Prof. Adam Stalony-Dobrzański created polychrome frescoes of numerous religious buildings. The styling and the artistic accomplishments of Prof. Adam Stalony-Dobrzański are unknown for the wide audience which makes an evident gap in the history of Polish art. Polychrome frescoes and stained
glass windows can be seen in interiors of Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant temples. The creative work of the Kraków artist is an example of the great and highly authentic vision of the sacred, which was stronger than communist censorship. The concept of Adam Stalony-Dobrzański’s art is not based on his theoretical conclusions but only on the analysis of correspondence of the artist with the then Metropolitan Archbishop of Kraków Karol Wojtyła - now St. Pope JohnPaul II. The topic of their letters was the issues of modern art and religious art, in particular the attempt to define a way in which art should be developed to meet the current needs of the Church. In contrast to the master, Prof. Adam Stalony-Dobrzański, his follower Prof. Jerzy Nowosielski has left ample commentary on his artwork. Prof. Adam Stalony-Dobrzański was rather a practitioner than a theoretician. Thus the fact of how great an impact he had on the character and the artwork of Jerzy Nowosielski is puzzling. In the first half of the 1950s, the “master-student” relationship existed between artists, at least in Gródek, Jelenia Góra, Dojlidy, Warsaw and Grabarka. The link between the two artists were the East, Orthodox Christianity, the icon and openness to its modern forms and its bold combination with the experience of religious art. As for Poland, the artwork of Prof. Adam Stalony-Dobrzański and Prof. Jerzy Nowosielski are an integral part of the history of religious art of the 20th century as well as the art of stained glass. Its impact lies in the core of such great interest in the icon in Poland. The creative work of Prof. Adam Stalony-Dobrzański has so far remained in the shadow of the works of Prof. Jerzy Nowosielski. The biography and the creative achievements of Prof. Adam Stalony-Dobrzański merit detailed analysis and study. The question of its importance is raised in this article.