Welcome to our Galeria Grand Opening Series
Please join us for a series of programs that will honor the Galeria’s reopening, after a decade of renovation and planning, which will culminate with a ribbon cutting ceremony in Spring 2025.
Open during Polish First Sundays on as well as by appointment.
For additional openings please check our calendar.
Private appointments may be made with Elijah Majeski at emajeski@picrol.org or by calling 248-836-1284
For updates about the Polish Institute and our Galeria, please subscribe to our newsletter.
Current special exhibition:
Sacred Images, Holy Spaces: Art and Faith in Poland and Italy
Curated by Dr. John Radzilowski
Coordinated by Elijah Majeski
Serving as a bridge between the physical and the spiritual, sacred art has played a critical role in the development and practice of Catholicism. Pregnant with metaphorical interpretation, images in Catholic art are neither worshiped nor mere decoration; they rater serve as a representation of the spirit’s indwelling within the “flesh” of the material world. Both Poland and Italy hold rich traditions of sacred artmaking which is well represented within the collection of the Polish Institute of Culture & Research at Orchard Lake. This exhibition will compare and contrast the modes in which each respective tradition is historically understood while also demonstrating the relevance of such images to the daily practice of the faithful. Spanning the 16th century to recent decades, featured artists will include: Luca da Reggio, Giovanni Battista, Saturnin Świerzyński, Jacek Malczewski, Kazimierz Sichulski, and Zofia Stryjeńska, among others.
Sacred Images, Holy Spaces: Art and Faith in Poland and Italy
READ POLISH VERSION HERE:
“Święte obrazy, święte przestrzenie: sztuka i wiara w Polsce i we Włoszech“
None can sense more deeply than you artists, ingenious creators of beauty that you are, something of the pathos with which God at the dawn of creation looked upon the work of his hands. A glimmer of that feeling has shone so often in your eyes when—like the artists of every age—captivated by the hidden power of sounds and words, colours and shapes, you have admired the work of your inspiration, sensing in it some echo of the mystery of creation with which God, the sole creator of all things, has wished in some way to associate you.
—Pope St. John Paul II, Letter to Artists, 1999
Sacred Images, Holy Spaces draws on the art collections of the Polish Institute of Culture & Research at Orchard Lake to show how sacred art helps to sanctify and define space. It also demonstrates the cultural exchanges and parallels that have occurred between Poland and Italy over centuries via their shared devotion to the Catholic faith. The exhibition traces developments in art history while also demonstrating the relevance of such images to the daily practice of the faithful through the presence of home altars representative of those that would be found in 20th century immigrant homes here in Detroit. Spanning the 16th century to recent decades, featured artists will include Luca da Reggio, Giovanni Battista Lombardi, Saturnin Świerzyński, Jacek Malczewski, Kazimierz Sichulski, and Zofia Stryjeńska, among others.
Baroque Italian sensibilities are noted for painterly impressions of divine light pierce through earthly shadows to reveal skillfully rendered saints. This stylistic contrast between light and dark has had a profound impact on sacred art, even to the present day. Polish depictions of Biblical imagery and character borrowed many of these visual motifs, eventually imbuing them with expressive color and a honed attention to the landscape. In the modern era, these shapes and colors flattened into bold, eye-catching compositions that prioritized symbolic representation over realistic depiction.
Imbued with metaphorical meaning, images in Catholic art are neither worshiped nor mere decoration; they rather serve as a representation of the spirit’s indwelling within the “flesh” of the material world. Serving as a bridge between the physical and the spiritual, sacred art offers meaning that cannot always be captured in words and must be presently experienced to be grasped. Further, sacred art embodies the beauty of the created world created by God (if temporary fallen through Original Sin). It provides a foretaste of the splendor of heaven. Artists creating sacred images glorify God and cooperate in the sanctification of the world.
Sanctifying Space
Most people in the 21st century live lives shaped by Materialism. Reality is defined by what we can measure and directly perceive with our senses. Over the past two centuries, we have turned to the sciences to help us understand the “real” as something purely physical. For our ancestors across all cultures, however, the world looked very different. Alongside the physical world existed a parallel spiritual world that was every bit as real and consequential. This is duality is recognized in the first lines of the Nicene Creed, expressing the standard faith of Catholics and most Christians: “I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.” (This the same in Latin [Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipoténtem, factórem cæli et terræ, visibílium ómnium et invisibílium.], Italian [Io credo in un solo Dio, Padre onnipotente, Creatore del cielo e della terra, Di tutte le cose visibili e invisibili.], and Polish [Wierzę w jednego Boga, Ojca Wszechmogącego, Stworzyciela nieba i ziemi, wszystkich rzeczy widzialnych i niewidzialnych.]).
For Catholics and their pre-Christian forebearers, both the material and spiritual world were thickly inhabited with beings benign or malign, with potential dangers and curses as well as blessings and benefits. This was often a form of animism where each stream, rock, or tree could be imbued with spiritual significance. What existed in one world had its mirror in the other and thus words or deeds in the visible realm had consequences in the invisible world of the spirit. And although physical existence might be fleeting, spiritual existence was eternal, so it was necessary if not essential to comport one’s earthly existence with an eye toward one’s fate in eternity. In the invisible realm one had to answer to God as well as to one’s revered ancestors. Equally important, actions and words in both realms were not only a matter of individual fate but affected all those with whom one lived and came into contact: family, community, or even strangers one met along the way.
Places were imbued with special significance, both material and spiritual, and few were more significant than the family home which provided both a physical shelter and a spiritual haven. According to photographer and essayist John Berger, home is the crossroad of our universe, where the horizontal line representing all the worlds’ roads and life journeys intersects with the vertical line that represents the axis of Heaven, earth, and the underworld. It is where we first come to know God, where we first learn to pray, and where we honor the dead and the living.
Even before the ancestors of today’s Italians and Poles converted to Christianity, the home and the family hearth were both the physical and spiritual locus of the world. Most people were subsistence farmers living in small villages and the home helped to center existence. Homes had a sacred and a sanctifying function, symbolized by the home altar. The practice of home altars began well before the arrival of Christianity. Ancient Roman and Italic peoples left offerings to Lares—protective deities specific to each household. Among early Polish and Slavic peoples, a similar practice of honoring Domovy, or house spirits was practiced. In both instances, the spirits of the home and hearth were protective of the household kin and also embodied deceased ancestors. Beyond the walls of family home, however, the spiritual world grew potentially more perilous and unstable. Spirits and deities of fields and pastures were potentially less friendly but could be reasoned with. The beings that inhabited wild places such as forests (home of the Leshy in Slavic cosmology) and swamps (dwelling of the Rusałki) were dangerous indeed. The further from home one traveled the more dangerous and uncertain the world became.
Christian missionaries “baptized” pre-Christian cultures along with their people and while belief in household spirits persisted in some areas well into the twentieth century in some places, Italians and Poles both adapted home altars and related sanctifying practices to Catholicism. Patron saints and images of the Jesus, such as crucifixes and the Sacred Heart, and the Mary, the Mother of God, took the place of house spirits. Home altars (or icon corners) were brought along with immigrants to the new world and helped to cement the newcomers’ sense of place in America, just as they built shrines and churches beyond the walls of their modest homes. The altars helped to settle and confirm families’ faith, providing an anchor of stability and continuity in a new and often daunting homeland. It was a place to pray for and remember relatives left behind in Europe as well as for their own safety as they labored in mines, mills, and factories. It reminded them that God had come with them on the long journey to America and that perhaps the trip had been worth the hardships.
Beyond the confines of the home, both Poles and Italians sought to sanctify other spaces. These were often “liminal spaces” or boundaries between one space and another. The first of these might be the doorway of the family house itself. In many cultures, some small ritual or custom on entering or leaving a home persists. In Poland, for example, it is considered bad luck to shake hands across the doorway of a house.
Crossroads, boundaries of fields or other properties, and locations of important events or tragedies were also spaces to be sanctified by the placement of holy art or images. These were places of special physical and spiritual significance. Crossroads were especially perilous, as a place one might encounter the devil or some other evil. Placing a cross or a small shrine at such locations helped to keep passersby safe on their journey and provided a spot for local devotions at times of the year when the fields were full of workers.
There are many types of such sites under many names: wayside cross, wayside shrines, yard shrines, sidewalk altars, or even “bathtub Madonnas.” They range from elaborate chapels in miniature to a simple cross or crucifix nailed to a tree or fence post. Examples of these can be found in many parts of rural Poland and Italy. (They are especially prevalent in southern and eastern Poland where they are still regularly maintained and used.) In the United States this phenomenon is less common but can still be found in some rural areas of the Midwest. For example, in Parisville Township in Michigan’s thumb, one can find the Lemanski family cross. The original cross was raised by this Polish immigrant family after their home was spared in a great forest fire that devasted the region in the 19th century and their descendants continue to maintain it to this day.
Churches and chapels are the most common places to encounter sacred art. As centers of worship for Catholic secular and religious communities, they focus the interests and resources of the wider community, allowing for the greatest scope of artistic and cultural expression. Since ancient times, churches were objects of community honor and pride and usually served as the most important public space in a community, be it a modest wooden parish church or a cathedral of a metropolis. On entering a church, visitors immediately understand themselves to be in sacred space marked off by architecture, use of light and color, sounds and smells, and by sanctifying sacraments and rituals.
Polish-Italian Connections
Poland and Italy have had a centuries-long cultural connection dating back to the Middle Ages. Polish clergy and intellectuals frequented Italian universities such as Bologna and Padua. This included astronomer Nicholas Copernicus and jurist Paweł Włodkowiec. Italian artists, architects, and musicians found patrons in the Polish gentry, kings, and clergy. Italianate influences were apparent in Polish art by the 1400s, with the frescos in the Royal Chapel in Lublin, endowed by King Władysław Jagiełło, serving as the most notable example. Following the French invasion of 1494 and the complex Habsburg-French rivalry that often played out on Italian soil, artists, scholars, musicians, and architects from the cities of Italy traveled beyond the Alps to France, England, Austria, and Poland helping to fuel the Northern Renaissance.
In 1519, Bona Sforza, daughter of the Duke of Milan, married King Zygmunt I Stary of Poland and Lithuania. The young Bona proved an able co-ruler as well as an important patroness of the arts. Under the direction of architect Bartolomeo Berrecci, the queen oversaw the redesign of Wawel Castle in Kraków as well as other royal residences in Vilnius (Wilno) and Niepołomice. Berrecci designed the Sigismund Chapel in the Wawel, considered the most beautiful example of Italian Renaissance architecture outside of Italy.
Italians residing in Poland often married into Polish families and combined local aesthetics with Italian ideas. Paduan architect Bernardo Morando came to Poland to work for the Crown Hetman Jan Zamoyski in 1578, to design the hetman’s new planned city, named Zamość after its patron. Combining Polish and Italian ideas seemed to come naturally to Morando who married a Polish woman and had six children. Morando also designed the scenery for Jan Kochanowski’s Dismissal of the Grecian Envoys, the first staged drama by a Polish author. Today Zamość is a UNESCO World Heritage site renowned as an ideal example of Renaissance town planning.
The Polish-Italian connection continued throughout the 1600s and 1700s. In 1645, Maria Louisa Gonzaga, daughter of the Duke of Mantua, married King Władysław IV Wasa and after his death three years later, married his half-brother, King Jan Kazimierz II. The Queen helped found Poland’s first newspaper and was a patroness of poets and scholars. Stanisław August Poniatowski, Poland’s last king (reigned 1764-1795), was ineffectual as a politician but a great patron of the arts. He employed many Italians at his court, including sculptor Tomasso Righi and landscape painter Bernardo Bellotto. (Bellotto’s detailed paintings of Warsaw would be used after 1945 to help rebuild the city after its complete destruction by German forces acting on Adolf Hitler’s personal orders.)
Following elimination of the old Polish Commonwealth at the hands of its autocratic neighbors in 1795, the Italian-Polish bond declined but was never completely eclipsed. Aristocratic and Church connections continued, and a small but important number of Italians settled in Poland during the nineteenth century when parts of both countries were under Habsburg rule. The prolific Polish American church architect Victor Cordella was born in Kraków and came from a family with Italian roots. During the Napoleonic Wars, many Poles fought in Napoleon’s Italian campaigns, a fact commemorated by a line in the lyrics of Poland’s national anthem. Under the slogan “For Your Freedom and Ours,” Polish volunteers joined Giuseppe Garabaldi in his fight for Italian unification in 1860 and Garabaldi’s friend and ally Gen. Francesco Nullo led the volunteer Italian “Garabaldi Legion” to assist Polish insurgents during the January Insurrection of 1863 against Russia.
During World War II, Polish forces under Gen. Władysław Anders helped liberate Italy from German occupation, capturing the key German fortress at Monte Cassino and liberating the cities of Ancona and Bologna among others. Polish soldiers in Italy often helped save important cultural and religious monuments. When the Cathedral of Loreto was set ablaze by German shellfire in June 1944, Polish soldiers risked their lives to quench the flames, saving the church and its many artistic treasures.
Today Poland and Italy enjoy strong relations as fellow members of NATO and the European Union.
The Galeria
Sacred Images, Holy Spaces represents the first formal exhibition in the Galeria in over a decade and the first in its newly renovated form. The Galeria was built in the 1880s as a chapel for the Michigan Military Academy, accounting for the martial decorative elements on its exterior. After the Orchard Lake campus was purchased by the Polish seminary of SS. Cyril and Methodius in 1909 it served for several years as a refectory (dining hall). In the early 1920s it was converted into a Catholic chapel and sanctified for the use of the Orchard Lake campus. After the construction of the current Shrine Chapel of Our Lady of Orchard Lake in 1963, the building was renamed the Galeria and converted to an art gallery. It hosted many art shows, exhibits, and cultural events and also served as an art classroom and a workshop for an artist in residence. By the early 2010s the age and deterioration of the building made it impossible to continue this function. It was then used for storage and temporarily as an indoor training space for athletics. Over the past two and half years, the Galeria has undergone extensive repair and renovation, including the installation of HVAC systems, special windows, and security to allow for the safe exhibition of artwork and for use once more as a space for public events to serve the Orchard Lake Campus and the Polish American community.
Honorary Patrons:
The Hon. Paola Allegra Baistrocchi, Consul of Italy in Detroit
Mr. Richard Walawender, Honorary Consul of Poland in Detroit
Curator
John Radzilowski, Ph.D., Director, Polish Institute of Culture & Research at Orchard Lake
Coordinator and Exhibition Designer
Elijah Majeski, Galeria Manager, Polish Institute of Culture & Research at Orchard Lake
Publicity and External Relations
Anna Bieciuk, Associate Director for Polonia Affairs, Polish Institute of Culture & Research at Orchard Lake.
Translation
Mietek Oniśkieiwcz
The renovation of the Galeria space and the support for this exhibition were provided through the great generosity of the Dr. Edward and Josephine Wikiera Foundation.
Special thanks are due to: The Board of Trustees of the Dr. Edward and Josephine Wikiera Foundation, the Regents of the Orchard Lake Schools, the Trustees of the Polish Institute of Culture & Research at Orchard Lake, the Orchard Lake Schools Ambassadors’ Fund, Niagara Murano Architects, Robert Mazur, Doug Fackler and all the Staff of the Orchard Lake Schools. Additional gratitude is extended to Prof. Joseph Sciorra, Ph.D., of Queens College, City University of New York, and the Calandra Italian-American Institute for sharing his expertise in Italian American material culture. For their skill and assistance in helping to prepare the exhibit’s opening events, we extend thanks to Tomoko Mack, Kazimierz Brzozowski, Kamil Pacholec, Cliff Monear from Steinway Piano Gallery of Detroit, Irena’s Pastry & Bistro, English Gardens, Plum Market West Bloomfield, and First Impression Print & Marketing. Finally, we thank Ken Katz and his staff at Conservation and Museum Services for professional restoration and cleaning of several of the pieces in this exhibit.
For updates about the Polish Institute and our Galeria, please subscribe to our newsletter.
Sacred Images, Holy Places: Art and Faith in Poland and Italy
READ POLISH VERSION HERE:
Święte obrazy, święte przestrzenie: sztuka i wiara w Polsce i we Włoszech
LIST OF WORKS DISPLAYED
Paintings
1. Unknown
Portrait of a Dominican Monk (Fr. Giovanni Battista Lanci) | Portret Mnicha Dominikańskiego (Ks. Giovanni Battista Lanci), c. early 16th century (after 1598)
Italian (Roman or Genoese)
Oil on canvas | Olej na płótnie
38 ½ x 26 ¾ in | 97.8 x 68.3 cm
In 1597, Pope Clement VIII appointed Father Giovanni Battista Lanci, a Dominican monk from Genoa, as Master of the Sacred Palace in Rome. This was a very important post since Fr. Lanci was the preacher for the Papal household but also monitored book publishing for its theological content and to ensure it upheld the teachings of the Magisterium of the Church. He held the post for only about year, passing away in 1598. This portrait was made after his death and it shows Fr. Lanci in his study. The books on the shelves behind him emphasize his mastery of theology and include the works of St. Thomas Aquinas as well as works related to the office of the Inquisition, which he headed in Genoa. His coat of arms appearing on the upper left includes the red cross of emblem of his home city. In his hand, he holds the official document from the Pope appointing him to his final office in Rome. This painting by an unknown artist is likely the oldest one in the collection of the Polish Institute of Culture and Research.
2. School of Francesco Trevisani (1656–1746)
Our Lady of Sorrows | Matka Boska Bolesna, c. early 18th century
Italian (Roman)
Oil on canvas | Olej na płótnie
23 ¾ x 19 in | 60.2 x 48.4 cm
Francesco Trevisani was born in the Republic of Venice but spent most of his career in Rome where he enjoyed the patronage of important bishops and cardinals as well as Pope Clement XI. He also took on apprentices, some of whom became successful painters themselves. This work was likely done by one of those students under Trevisani’s guidance and may have been meant for a religious community or a well-to-do layman’s family. It portrays Mary the mother of Jesus as the Mother of Sorrows, a well-known image in Catholic art. The stark background—showing only Jesus’ cross, crown of thorns, and robe—as well as Mary’s dark blue robe focus the viewer’s attention on her face. Departing from the more conventual pictures of the Mother of God with a serene visage, here the artist shows her face worn with sorrow, crying out in response to the cruel death of her only son, reminding us of the passage in Luke’s Gospel “And a Sword shall piece your Heart…” (Lk 2:35). The mother’s sorrow the artist portrays is hard to gaze at, but the composition forces us to look and in doing so to think more deeply about the meaning of her son’s death and resurrection.
3. Circle of Luca Ferrari (Luca da Reggio) (1605–1654)
Madonna with Child | Madonna z Dzieckiem, early 17th century
Italian (Reggio Emilia)
Oil on canvas | Olej na płótnie
36 x 27 ¼ in | 91.5 x 69.3 cm
Luca Ferrari was a Baroque painter born in Reggio Emilia who also worked in the city of Padua where he also taught several notable pupils. This painting was likely executed by one of those pupils. The image of Mary with the child Jesus has been one of the most beloved in Christian iconography since the Middle Ages. It represents the humanity of Jesus in way that is homey and familiar. Here the artist has used a simple background and a light source shining from the upper right to focus the viewer’s attention on the infant Jesus as he plays beneath the shelter of his mother’s veil.
4. Unknown
Nativity | Boże Narodzenie, 19th century
Oil on board | Olej na pokładzie
31 x 25 in | 79 x 63.5 cm.
The birth of Jesus is one of the important and popular themes in art. After Easter, Christmas is the most significant holy day on the Christian calendar. As one scholar aptly noted, Europe converted to Christianity because of the Christmas story. This 19th century copy of an earlier Italian baroque piece portrays Mary adoring the Son of God to whom she has just given birth in idealized classical landscape at dusk.
5. Unknown
Our Lady of Częstochowa | Matka Boska Częstochowska, c. 18th/19th century
Polish
Oil on canvas | Olej na płótnie
34 ½ x 26 in | 87.5 x 66 cm
The icon of Our Lady of Częstochowa is the best known religious image in Poland which for many both Poles and non-Poles is the emblem of Polish Catholic par excellence. The miraculous image has been object of pilgrimage and veneration for centuries. The original image came to Poland in the 1300s but is believed by experts to be a much older work. This painting by an unknown artist was likely done in the late 18th or 19th century and represents an interpretation of the original image rather a copy. The scars on Our Lady’s face in the original image (caused by vandalism of Hussite attackers in the 1400s) are absent here, suggesting a more triumphant and less sorrowful version of the familiar image.
6. Saturnin Świerzyński (1820–1885)
Entrance of the Presbyterium of the Wawel Cathedral | Wnętrze Prezbiterium Katedry na Wawelu, 1870
Polish
Oil on canvas | Olej na płótnie
51 ¾ x 38 ¾ in | 131.5 x 98.5 cm
The Wawel Cathedral in Kraków is a sacred place by virtue of being a place of worship for many centuries and the seat of the Cardinal-Archbishops of Kraków. The first known church at the site dates from 900s. Aside from its important function as a Cathedral church, Wawel is sacred to the Polish nation as the burial place of many rulers, saints, and poets. During the 19th century when an independent Poland did not exist, Wawel served as national pantheon that both honored the past and kept alive the dream of a future free of foreign rule. Saturin Świerzyński was a native Krakowian who focused special attention on church interiors. In the 1870s and 1880s he produced a series of paintings of the inside of the Wawel Cathedral. These works are rich in architectural and artistic detail and show the cathedral as a living place with people stopping in to pray and worship, or even as tourists paying homage to Polish history and culture. In this painting, daylight streams through the windows illuminating the cathedral’s presbyterium or sanctuary, where the holy sacrifice of the Mass takes place. This is one of Świerzyński’s earliest pictures of the Wawel Cathedral and in addition to being a masterful work of light and shadow, it serves as important document of the Wawel’s history. A detailed sketch made in preparation for this work is held in the collection of the Museum of the Wawel Castle and was part of a recent exhibition there about the history of the cathedral. A photograph of the work you see in front of you was included in the exhibition catalogue.
7. Jan Styka (1858–1925)
Christ Wearing the Crown of Thorns | Chrystus w Koronie Cierniowej, 1903
Polish
Oil on board | Olej na pokładzie
24 x 19 ½ in | 60.8 x 49.7 cm
Jan Styka, a Pole with Czech roots, specialized in massive historical and religious scenes, the most of famous of which are the Racławice Panorama and the Crucifixion Panorama. He also composed smaller pieces, including portraits, focusing on historical, mythological, and religious themes. This portrait of Jesus shows him wearing a crown of thorns placed on his head in cruel mockery by the Roman soldiers. It shows the artist at the height of his career, depicting a very human Christ, his eyes heavy with the suffering of his own torture and the weight of humanity’s sins. Styka’s Christ invites us to accompany him on his path to Calvary.
8. Ludomir Dymitrowicz (1844-1923)
Chapel of Our Lady of Częstochowa at Jasna Góra |
Kaplica Matki Boskiej Częstochowskiej na Jasnej Górze, 1913
Polish
Gouache on cardboard | Gwasz na kartonie
23 ¾ x 18 ¾ in | 60.5 x 47.7 cm
The Shrine of Our Lady of Częstochowa—the famous Black Madonna—has been the most important pilgrimage site in Poland for hundreds of years. It was also a favorite subject of painter and illustrator Ludomir Dymitrowicz who published an illustrated book on the shrine in 1896. This sacred place continued to call him back throughout his life, and in 1913 toward the end of his career, he created this painting of the interior of the chapel. The architectural and decorative detail in this work exudes the sense of peace and holiness the artist found at this shrine. This work was a gift to the Orchard Lake Schools of Mr. Alex Polityka in loving memory of his wife Jean.
9. Jacek Malczewski (1854–1929)
Self-portrait with Christ | Autoportret z Chrystusem (Szkic do zamieci), 1917
Polish
Oil on board | Olej na pokładzie
27 ½ x 39 ¼ in | 69.8 x 99.6 cm
Symbolist painter Jacek Malczewski is one of the most important artists in Polish history. He drew from a wide lexicon of Christian, mythological, and national images to create complex works with multiple layers of meaning both sacred and profane. In addition, he frequently added his own self-portraits to his work as if he could not separate himself from the symbolic images he painted. This painting was completed in 1917, during the height of World War I when the nations of the world seemed to be locked into an endless cycle of death and destruction, with a significant part of that tragedy occurring in Malczewski’s beloved Poland. The picture itself is conceived as a cross, with Malczewski himself as the vertical axis. Christ wearing a crown of thorns appears out of the background in the upper left, bowed down under the weight of the cross and the sins of humanity while around both figures swirls a seeming storm of chaos.
10. Kazimierz Sichulski (1879–1942)
St. George | Św. Jerzy, 1930
Polish
Oil on canvas | Olej na płótnie
64 ¾ x 38 ¼ in | 164.5 x 97.5 cm.
This Polish version of St. George slaying the dragon was painted by Kazimierz Sichulski and was purchased at a sacred art exhibition in Rome in 1933-34 and then brought to the USA and given to the Orchard Lake Schools. Sichulski was a member of the Young Poland modernist art movement centered in Kraków which incorporated diverse national, folk, and religious influences and represents one of the most creative periods in Polish culture. Sichulski’s St. George is a Polish Winged Hussar of the early 17th century, when Poland was at the height of its power. Although St. George and his horse center the action, the scene overflows the canvas, adding to its dynamism. His stylized trees are based on Polish folk motifs which feature often in the work of the Young Poland movement.
11. Zofia Stryjeńska (1891–1976)
Sacred Heart of Jesus | Najświętsze Serce Jezusa, after 1950
Polish
Gouache on canvas | Gwasz na płótnie
26 ¾ x 22 ¼ in | 68.3 x 56.8 cm.
Most standard portrayals of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Catholic art favor the colors red and gold, balanced by darker hues, usually without use of sharp lines. But not this piece by art deco painter and illustrator Zofia Stryjeńska. Her portrait of Jesus with blond hair and the bright almost electric blue colors clash with many viewers’ expectations. The sharp lines, characteristic of art deco, add to the intensity of the image. The beams in the background appear like searchlights from Our Lord’s halo but together form a cross which Jesus seems to balance with ease on his shoulder. Stryjeńska’s Christ is risen and triumphant, defying human (and artistic) expectations.
12. Nikifor (1895-1968)
Selection of church drawings | Wybór rysunków kościelnych
Polish/Lemko
Watercolor on paper | Akwarela na papierze
Dimensions variable | Wymiary zmienne
Nikifor Krynicki was a naïve painter of Polish and Lemko parentage. Raised by single mother in conditions of severe poverty, he had both speech and hearing disabilities that made him an outcast throughout much of his life. He taught himself to draw and paint and many of his works were made with the simplest of materials. His work gradually became known to the art world in the late 1940s and 1950s where it created a sensation and became widely admired in Poland and beyond. Artist Edward Dwurnik wrote “He was a consummate, great, profound painter, and he approached painting like the Renaissance masters – in a classical, honest way.” Nikifor’s Greek Catholic faith was a central element in his work and the churches of his native village and region were a frequent theme. His work is characterized by his unique use of color and his abstract reimagining of everyday places and people.
13. Unknown
Crucifixion | Ukrzyżowanie, 19th century
Polish
Oil on panel | Olej na pokładzie
31 ¾ x 47 ¾ in | 81 x 121.5 cm
This portrayal of Jesus’ crucifixion alongside two common criminals was probably made for a rural parish church or the chapel of a religious community in Poland. It may have been the work of an itinerant artist. This very spare and direct picture has a couple of very interesting characteristics. The artist shows us the scene from a bird’s eye perspective, as if we are floating above the hill at Calvary. Second, the border of the painting has been painstakingly painted to look like beams of real wood (rather than the inexpensive panel used as the medium). This may be intended to remind the viewer of the wooden cross on which Jesus was crucified.
14. Unknown
Behold the Man (Ecce Homo) / Oto Człowiek, 20th century
Polish
Oil on canvas | Olej na płótnie
30 x 24 in | 76.2 x 60.8 cm
An identified artist created this modern version of “Ecce Homo,” which Pontius Pilate says as he presents Jesus to the crowd after he has been cruelly scourged and crowned with thorns (Jn 19:5). Roman soldiers have placed a reed in his hand to mock him—the thorns and the reeds mimicking the crown and scepter of a monarch. The dark background and the dramatic blood-red color with which the artist chose to paint Christ make his suffering at the hands of the soldiers clear. He awaits His cross and the painful trek to Calvary. This painting was a gift to the Orchard Lake Schools by the late Fr. Robert Werenski.
15. Joseph Paul Jankowski (1916–1999)
Untitled [His Holiness Pope Paul VI on the Stairs] | Bez tytul [Jego Świątobliwość Papież Paweł VI na schodach], c. 1970
Oil on canvas | Olej na płótnie
42 x 60 in | 107 x 152.5 cm
Joseph Paul Jankowski was a Polish American artist who was part of the Cleveland School of Art, a group of northern Ohio artists active throughout the early and mid-20th century. His work often focused on ecclesiastical themes and churches. This untitled work shows Pope Paul VI descending a set of steps captured as a series of images as if to suggest a rapid succession of photographic frames.
16. Unknown
Crucifixion | Ukrzyżowanie, late 19th or early 20th century
Oil on canvas | Olej na płotnie
33 ½ x 47 ½ in | 85 x 121 cm
This crucifixion scene by an unknown artist was probably created for a rural parish church in Poland or for the house of a religious community. It appears to date from the late 19th century (or even the early 20th century) but the composition of the painting draws on a much older tradition that was common from the Middle Ages through the Baroque period of creating a mystical or spiritual portrayal of a common scene from the Life of Christ by adding figures of saints or patrons of the Church from other time periods. (Compare this picture to the other Crucifixion scene in this exhibition.) The identity of some of the saints in the painting cannot be ascertained. Left to right, unknown, evangelist (Matthew, Mark, or Luke), St John the Baptist, Mary the Mother of James, Mary the Mother of Jesus, St. Mary Magdalen (collapsing with grief into the arms of Jesus’ mother), St. John the Evangelist, St. Dominic (kneeling), unknown archbishop saint, unknown religious order saint, unknown bishop saint, St. Francis of Assisi (kneeling in the brown habit), Bl. Ladislaus of Gielniów (holding a scourge), and two unknown religious order saints.
17. Wlastimil Hofman
Our Lady | Matka Boska
Oil on board | Olej na deska
14 ¾ x 9 ½ in | 37.5 x 24.5 cm.
Wlastimil Hofman was a protégé of Jacek Malczewski. This small piece shows an altar in a chapel or perhaps a side altar in a larger church with an image of the Virgin Mary. The simple arrangement also calls to mind the home altars visible here in the exhibit. Hofman was a friend of the late Fr. Dr. Zdzisław Peszkowski who taught for the Orchard Lake Schools for many years, and he may have also visited the campus. This piece, a recent acquisition by the Polish Institute of Culture and Research belonged to the late Fr. Dr. Joseph Swastek, a long-time history professor at the Orchard Lake Schools. It was donated through the generosity of Jerry and Colleen Rzepka.
18. Unknown (Italian School)
Madonna / Matka Boska, 19th century
Italian
Oil on Canvas / Olej na płotnie
31.5 x 25 in. / 80.2 x 63.3 cm
This simple picture of the Mary, the Mother of God, in prayer was made by an Italian workshop either for an individual patron or at the request of the religious community. It is executed in a baroque style which developed in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century to emphasize teaching important theological lessons and virtues. Mary is shown deep in prayer, almost in communion with God. The colors of her clothing are traditional and connect the picture to a tradition of painting dating to the 5th century. Mary’s blue outer robe symbolizes royalty and her title as Queen of Heaven. The red tunic beneath it, emphasizes her passion and suffering she experienced watching the crucifixion of her son Jesus. The white veil marks her perpetual virginity and purity.
Sculpture
A. Unknown
St. Anne with Mary | Św. Anna z Maryją, 18th-19th centuries
Polish
Polychrome woodcarving | Rzeźba w drewnie polichromowana
40 ½ x 9 x 12 ½ in | 103 x 23 x 32 cm
Devotion to St. Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary, was widespread in Poland since the Middle Ages. Many early statues and paintings show the saint with Mary as a child holding the infant Jesus. Others, such as this one, show St. Anne instructing Mary from the scripture, signaling not only her teaching role as a mother, but alluding to Jesus as “the Word made flesh” (Jn 1:14). This wooden statue was probably made for a parish church in Poland in the late 18th or early 19th centuries. It shows worn traces of original polychrome. Both figures were fitted for crowns which have since been lost.
B. Giovanni Battista Lombardi (1823–1880)
Ruth, 1872
Italian
Carrara marble | Marmur z Carrary
37 x 15 ¾ x 16 ½ in | 94 x 40 x 42 cm
Giovanni Battista Lombardi was born in Rezzato in the region of Brescia, an area known for the quality of its marble and a history of stonecutting. He studied and worked in Milan before moving to Rome. He became one of nineteenth century Italy’s best known artists for busts, funerary carvings, and statutes. In the last decade of his life, he produced a series of works modeled on women of the Old Testament, making several versions of each of varying dimensions. This statue portrays Ruth, wife of Boaz, and great grandmother of King David. The artist portrays her with sheaves of grain in her hand that she has gleaned from the harvested fields and a tired but determined expression on her face.
C. Giovanni Battista Lombardi (1823–1880)
Susanna, 1872
Italian
Carrara marble | Marmur z Carrary
39 ½ x 15 ¾ x 15 in | 100 x 40 x 38 cm
Giovanni Battista Lombardi was a master at making hard marble seem soft and pliant. This sculpture portrays Susanna from the Old Testament Book of Daniel. The virtuous Susanna is falsely accused of adultery by three elders after she refuses their advances but is saved by the wisdom of the young Daniel. Lombardi portrays Susanna, interrupted by the lecherous elders while bathing, turning her back to her would-be assailants with an expression of outrage. The artist masterfully uses every detail of her pose and the drape of her robe and hair to convey her modesty and innocence. A very similar version of this same work by the artist has been in the collection of Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York since 1894.
The Galeria is open by appointment, please contact Elijah Majeski at emajeski@picrol.org or 248-836-1284 to schedule.
Public viewing hours are held the first Sunday of each month from 12 – 3 pm.
Introduction to the Galeria and Art Collections at Orchard Lake
The art collection of the Orchard Lake Schools developed in the early 20th century as part of its mission to educate and preserve Polish culture and history. Initial donations were made by clergy, faculty, alumni, and charitable supporters from among the Polish Diaspora. Following World War II and the establishment of the Soviet-dominated regime in Poland, collecting activity increased; the Orchard Lake Schools were envisioned as an “Ark” to preserve Polish Culture by the existing Polish Diaspora, especially refugees and war veterans who had escaped totalitarian rule in Poland. Assistance increased following political developments in Poland after 1956, as Orchard Lake Schools was an important participant in the ‘Catholic League for Religious Assistance to Poland’ also known as ‘Liga Katolicka’. Frequent aid and travel of clergy to and from Poland served as an open conduit for art and artifacts that might have been confiscated or destroyed to be safely preserved at Orchard Lake.
Today, the Orchard Lake Schools Collection of Art continues to serve as a world-class resource for the ongoing research and exhibition of Polish art in America and beyond. To date, the collection is composed of over 2000 objects in a wide range of media: paintings, drawings, prints, photography, sculpture, folk art, textiles, costume design, posters, and decorative arts. Orchard Lake Schools holds one of the largest collections of historically notable 19th and 20th century Polish artists outside of Poland, including Julian Fałat, Wojciech Gerson, Wlastimil Hofman, Jerzy Kossak, Juliusz Kossak, Wojciech Kossak, Jacek Malczewski, Zofia Stryjeńska, Leon Wyczółkowski, and Stanisław Witkiewicz, among many others. From there, the collection links to a breadth of artists of Polish-American descent before branching out further to include European Sacred art from Italy and France and 20th Century American Modernism. Over the course of its history, the Orchard Lake Schools’ Collection of Art has been loaned to prestigious institutions: The Detroit Institute of Art, the City Hall of Montreal, the Auschwitz State Museum in Poland, and several other Polish museums.
The collection has also been shared on campus throughout the history of Orchard Lake Schools. In the 1960s, The Galeria opened in a vacant building that had formerly been used as a chapel for the military academy that originally utilized the Orchard Lake Schools’ campus. The Galeria hosted numerous exhibitions and concerts that connected the rich Polish heritage of the Orchard Lake Schools with the unique output of the local creative community. The Galeria operated in its original design until 2015 and has since undergone an extensive renovation and collection conservation.
Now under the care of the Polish Institute for Culture & Research at Orchard Lake, the Grand Opening of the newly renovated Galeria is set for Fall 2024.
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