A castaway who became master

Recenzowane materiały z konferencji: "Powrót Czapskiego", dn. 17-18 października 2017, Kraków. Strona wydawcy: https://www.wuj.pl

In article was an attempt at capturing the ambivalent stance of Józef Czapski in Polish culture: from the earlier refusal to accord him recognition to the later, and ever growing, appreciation. I have considered not only the reception of Czapski, but aspects of his biography that had influenced the changing assessment of his oeuvre as well. The first part of the paper focuses on the concept of the castaway as an allegory of Polish destiny in the period of the Partitions and in the twentieth century. Everyone who had been born in the period of the Partitions could be a potential castaway. No wonder then, that captive Poland was symbolised by a sinking ship, from Adam Mickiewicz’s The Books and the Pilgrimage of the Polish Nation (1832), to Henryk Sienkiewicz’s A Legend of the Sea (1884), to the marvellous painting by Ferdynand Ruszczyc, Nec mergitur (1905). It was sufficient to experience three wars - the two world wars and a PolishBolshevik one in-between - a fate that befell Czapski and his contemporaries; it was enough to have lived under two totalitarian regimes, the Soviet and the Nazi one, and in exile, to become a castaway. Yet, it is not only the biographical aspect that is important; also the human and artistic aspects matter. In Józef Czapski’s writings, as well as in his paintings, one often encounters evocations of uncertainty and of being “thrown overboard”. Here, the idea of a castaway, that is, of a loser, has an existential and symbolic dimension, inherent in the human condition. A sense of failure accompanied also Czapski the artist. A number of various high-ranking public appointments he had held for a long period of time prevented him from devoting himself in full to his artistic pursuits. An analysis of Czapski’s life and work imparts a great lesson on how to overcome objective difficulties determined by fate and such that result from the universal condition of being an artist. Because of that, Józef Czapski in his later life was regarded by many as their master. The second part of the article discusses also the problem of manipulating the concept of the castaway and of the unfavourable, and even scathing, judgement of Czapski in the official rhetoric and propaganda of the Polish People’s Republic. As is well known, because of his involvement in the investigation to bring to light the truth about the Katyń massacre and his contribution to the emergence of the Polish émigré journal Kultura (Culture) in Paris, he was regarded by the totalitarian regimes as their public enemy number one. I have analysed this problem on the basis of Adolf Rudnicki’s short story, Major Hubert from General Anders’ Army (1945), in which he depicted Czapski as a loser, both in his life and art. Yet, the spiritual greatness of the painter is attested by his indirect response to Rudnicki’s claims expressed in a letter to Ludwik Hering of 21 February 1946. Adam Zagajewski, who has written an excellent afterword to the recently published volume of Czapski and Hering’s correspondence, suggests that this exceptional piece should be included in an anthology of Polish letter writing, next to the works of such eminent literary figures as Zygmunt Krasiński, Juliusz Słowacki, Cyprian Kamil Norwid, Stanisław Brzozowski, Czesław Miłosz and Jerzy Stempowski.