Franciszek Duszeńko – uczeń Mariana Wnuka. Podmiotowość miejsc

Abstract

Outlining the shape: Franciszek Duszeńko (1925–2008) — a student of Marian Wnuk

If you want to do something, do it now, do it today, because tomorrow everything is going to end.— For those who will forever remain a part of Antarctica. Franciszek Duszeńko (from a sketchbook)

To outline the shape in order to “testify to the genocide”, so as not to lose one’s mind, was one aim shared by many artists and World War II survivors. The evidence of the physicality of Franciszek Duszeńko was the touch of a person intertwined in the history of Eastern Europe — the space where the architecture of the living “dwells” next to the architecture of those who are absent. After the war the twenty-one-year-old Franciszek, along with his friends, “emigrated” and encountered the “new Poland”. After the liberation, he went to Warsaw, later to Zakopane and Łódż. There he began his studies at the School of Art Industry. Finally, in 1946 in Sopot, he found his professor Marian Wnuk and in the same year he started his studies under the tutelage of the Professor along with his assistant — Adam Smolana. Franciszek Duszeńko is an example of a sculptor who dedicated his work mainly to the modern form of the monument. This was a challenge that he tried to meet by combining the sculpture with the space where the designed monument was supposed to be placed. His work was preceded by numerous sketches. The foundation of the monument was to be compatible with space through form and idea. He invited architects to assist in the realization of his monuments, among whom was Adam Haupt.