I recently discovered a circa-2005 documentary that was created for Polish television, presenting a fascinating look at the backstory behind the creation of the Polish Pavilion murals for the 1939 World’s Fair. It’s also an in-depth look at the creators, i.e., the Brotherhood of Saint Luke itself, with some archival photos and documents that I had not come across before. The film runs for about an hour but is on YouTube in two parts of roughly 30 minutes each. The title translates as The Brotherhood of Saint Luke, New York 1939.
Yes, I said ‘translates’ because the film is in Polish but I strongly suggest that you not let that deter you from watching it, especially Part One. I know absolutely no Polish but was able to follow the narrative surprisingly well. Produced by Michal Dudziewicz, it is much like the programming we have in the USA from The History Channel or PBS.
The documentary includes wonderful black-and-white footage that was taken in 1939 at the World’s Fair, as well as some photographs. The modern footage of the murals, which was shot in Poland after they were eventually repatriated, shows much more detail than many photographs provide.
What may be just a bit confusing at first is that in addition to the archival images, there is a good deal of modern re-enactment footage shot in such a way that it looks quite vintage. For example, there is a re-enactment of a circa-1925 ceremony held in Kazimierz Dolny to induct a new member into the Brotherhood. At the start of each re-enactment segment, each artist is temporarily captioned by name so that we know who is being portrayed; in the end credits we see that Boleslaw Cybis was played by Mariusz Kosek. Part Two contains a portrayal of Boleslaw Cybis in the process of painting the late-1920s Toilette with a live model (there is frontal nudity for less than a minute) but there is a minor mistake in the scene. The actual painting (shown in this post) shows a seated woman combing her bob-cut brown hair while on the table next to her there is a plate with a toothbrush and a ceramic mug. But in the documentary’s re-enactment the seated woman has long blonde hair instead; her hair is almost exactly like the woman in a very different Cybis painting called Primavera in which she is combing her hair while standing at a washbasin. Primavera was painted about eight years after Toilette and is shown in this post.
Michael Dudziewicz was inspired to make the film after reading Jan Zamoyski’s posthumous 1989 book, Łukaszowcy: malarze the malarstwo Bractwa św. Łukasza (painters and painting of the Brotherhood of St. Luke). The re-enactment segments are quite entertaining, especially the actor Rafal Dziemidok who portrays Tadeusz Pruszkowski, the mentor of the Brotherhood; he reminds me of Telly Savalas – although definitely shorter, and sans lollipop!
Part One:
Part Two:
Related Archive posts:
The Worlds’ Fair Polish Murals
Boleslaw Cybis and the Brotherhood of Saint Luke
Boleslaw Cybis drawings and paintings from the Kazimierz period, referenced heavily in the documentary.
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Name Index of Cybis Sculptures
Visual Index (for human figures/busts only)
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