Apache chief

Postwar Polish culture used, known since the first artistic appearances of the avant-gardes, the metaphor of returning to the source. Getting to know the newly annexed post-German areas resembled the activities of ethnographers describing non-European colonies. The autochthonous inhabitants of former Greater Pomerania – the Slavs and Kashubians – were called Mohicans. In turn, the belief in ancient metrics, the impression of naturalness and the authentic demographic youth and vitality of the Polish Wild West evoked associations with the inhabitants and civilisation of the Americas in particular.

The parallel between the discovery of Columbus and the Recovered Territories is highlighted by a wall painting in the building of the National Museum in Szczecin (1949/1950). Created according to a concept by Marian Tomaszewski (1904-1968), among others by Sławomir Lewiński, it depicts the mythical Polish conquistador of the Renaissance – Jan of Kolno (ca. 1435-1484).

Lewiński followed this lead, incorporating not only themes of geographical discovery into his post-thaw repertoire, but also a form that had been overlooked or freely inspired by exotic artefacts. Its visual accents placed in public spaces are as much reminiscent of Svetovit from Zbrucz as of Indian totems. His Apache Chief is only distinguished from the heads of the early Slavs by the geometric engraving of the facial part. With it, the artist alluded to the scarification known in many Native American cultures – a method of mutilating bodies, leaving bright decorative scars on the skin.

Szymon Piotr Kubiak