Struggle: The Art of Szukalski

by Stanisław Szukalski, Eva Kirsch (Editor), Donat Kirsch (Editor)

Szukalski is now the subject of the critically acclaimed 2018 Netflix documentary Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski directed by Irek Dobrowolski and produced by Leonardo DiCaprio Foreword by Leonardo and George DiCaprio The range of Szukalski's achievements in sculpting, drawing, painting, theorizing, and writing is finally reckoned with in Struggle, the title of both this book and the first major retrospective of his art scheduled for early 2001. The book includes over 100 color and black-and-white photos and illustrations; an essay by Eva Kirsch and Donat Kirsch placing the artist's work in historical and aesthetic context; who knew him; and the artist's commentary on selected works.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

200 pages, Paperback

First published December 10, 2000

About the author

Stanisław Szukalski was a Polish sculptor and painter who became a part of the Chicago Renaissance. In 1930s Poland he enjoyed fame as a nationalist sculptor. He also developed the pseudoscientific-historical theory of Zermatism, positing that all human culture was derived from post-deluge Easter Island and that humankind was locked in an eternal struggle with the Sons of Yeti ("Yetinsyny"), the offspring of Yeti and humans.

Reviews

[Loveloth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally and I mean finally read "The Struggle" so now, with certainty, I place Szukalski in my upper echelon of favorite artists. His work makes it impossible to leave you indifferent, at least it should in my opinion, and the book showcases those works wonderfully as well as his character. He had, frankly, schizo-levels of insane takes and worldview, most notably his Zermatism. It states how all languages and symbols come from Protong, a language he "discovered" and points how all of civilization stems from the Easter Islands and how it was all rebuilt after a "Great Deluge". The root of Protong is of course Polish. Plus Yeti hybrids that are a result of interbreeding.

He was a bickering, bitter egomaniac, trapped between continents, societies and extreme ideologies he wanted no part of (so he made his own) which defined the 20's and 30's and him as a person. The longing for validation and the same dejection of it, the idealization of his Poland, a Poland he never fought for but swore it's his heart and soul, a Poland that would never fully allow his ideas to manifest in any bigger shape and Szukalski LOVED the biggest, most ambitious stages possible.
It's a Poland steeped in Meso-American imagery he said did not influence him, a Poland freed from its Christianity and reverted back to its Pagan, Slavic roots... steeped in Meso-American imagery. A Poland made in his image and ideas. A Poland that was never meant to be.

It's an insanely entertaining, informative read whose tone can border on reverential and "fanboyish" but these are rare occurrences and I don't mind them given the man's staggering opus, theories and all. Interestingly, another obscure name, that of Richard Sharpe Saver, had a somewhat similar theory and "originator language" called... Mantong accompanied with his very own batshit ideas. The two men very, very likely never knew of each other and yet we have two languages with similar mechanics that kinda work sometimes? I'll read into it more as I am genuinely interested in how their logic works.

The word genius gets tossed around too much, way too much and people forget how many geniuses were disregarded, abandoned or eliminated by society. A "true genius", whatever that means, is not someone who a lot, hell, MOST people would consider, let alone agree with.
Szukalski seems to be that type of genius, doomed to fade into obscurity thanks to an insane combination of events that could've only happened in the 20th century and of course, a large dose of his own brilliant insanity. What a fucking madlad.

[Daniel Stock · Rating 4 out of 5]

The perfect amount of artistic snobbery rich with multisyllabic words. At risk of sounding like a dummy... it could have used more pictures