Polish Arts Club of Trenton, New Jersey Dedicated to Polish Arts and Culture Since 1946

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Works of Andrzej Pityński, Sculptor 2015 Polonaise Ball Honoree

".....A monument is an expressive symbol. A good one, looked at for even a few minutes will remain in memory for years or even for one's entire lifetime. Monuments are the milestones in a nation's history -- they will not allow other systems and governments to destroy the core values of a national culture." — Andrzej Pityński

"The Partisans" is a 1979 aluminum sculpture by the Polish-American sculptor Andrzej Pityński that has been exhibited in Boston, Massachusetts, since 1983.  The sculpture depicts Polish anti-communist "cursed soldiers".  It is dedicated to freedom fighters worldwide.  The sculpture is 10 metres (33 ft) long, 7 metres (23 ft) high, and 4 metres (13 ft) wide.  This modern aluminum sculpture depicts five riders and their horses.  The horsemen carry spears on their back, and with their bowed heads the sculpture intends to convey the themes of crucifixion and sacrifice.  According to its creator, Andrzej Pityński, they are intended to represent.five armed riders in a marching formation; five desperate men who resemble forest ghosts more than they resemble human beings ... five partisans who are tattered, mortally tired, who are bleeding from endless battles, escapes, skirmishes ... immersed with their own thoughts about the tragedy of their nation, who are riding their horses, stumbling from exhaustion. The sculpture is a symbolic representation of the cursed soldiers – anti-communist Polish partisans who fought against the Polish communist regime following the communist takeover of Poland in the aftermath of World War II (and not, as some sources erroneously suggest, World War II era anti-Nazi Polish partisans)   The sculptor however dedicated his work to "all freedom fighters around the world". “.....I was creating "The Partisans" in the United States, when Poland was changing, when the SB was murdering priests, students, and workers.  I was creating this monument thinking about them all, about those thousands of the bravest Sons and Daughters of the Polish Nation, who were the first to stand up to the Soviet communism.  They were betrayed by world and forgotten by God – a choice they made themselves – in the forest units of: NOW, AK, WiN, NSZ.  They fought bravely with NKVD, Soviet Red Army; and with Polish traitors from the UB, KBW, MO, ORMO, with all 'consolidators of the people's [communist] regime.  They fought because they never reconciled to give up their freedom.  They were hunted in the forests like wild beasts, they were tortured in the UB dungeons, they were abused with the vindictive pleasure [of their oppressors], they were murdered in the MO torture houses, were buried illicitly at night in the graves that are unknown to this day.  It is for THEM, that I created this symbol of the Golgotha of Polish Heroes." — Andrzej Pityński

Most pictures can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Andrzej Pityński's Mściciel (Avenger) is dedicated to Polish soldiers.  This monument is also sometimes called the "Hussar" or "Polish Hussar" because the figure is that of a 16th century Polish Hussar in full armor.  These elite heavy cavalrymen were known for their signature 'wings'.  This kneeling Hussar (bronze, 10 x 5 x 6 meters) watches over the final resting place of his brothers and sisters in arms - the Veterans cemetery at the Czestochowa Shrine.  Mściciel was unveiled on August 14, 1988.

This sculpture shows three soldiers in the uniforms of Haller's Polish Army of 1918 -- a cavalry man mounted on a horse and two infantry men coming out of ocean waves. On the lower part of the sculpture is a sign [a quote from the Polish National Anthem] "To save our homeland we would cross the sea." On the tops of the waves are names of places where Polish volunteers from America fought, and their battle trail through Champagne, Wogezy, Kiev, Wolyn, Lwow. We know from history that General Haller, commander of the Blue Army, organized the recruitment of volunteers from among the Polonia in both Americas and attracted 40,000 men of whom over 22 thousand were accepted for service. Eventually over 90 thousand soldiers came to Poland from America and from western Europe. From a historical perspective we can see that without them Polish independence and stabilization of borders in 1918 would not have been possible.

The Katyn Memorial is dedicated to the victims of the Katyn massacre in 1940. Created by Polish-American sculptor Andrzej Pityński, the memorial stands at Exchange Place in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA near the mouth of the Hudson River along the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway.   Unveiled in June 1991 a 34 feet (10 meters) tall bronze statue of a soldier, gagged and bound, impaled in the back by a bayoneted rifle, stands atop a granite base containing Katyn soil.   It commemorates the massacre of thousands of Polish prisoners by order of Joseph Stalin in April and May 1940 after Soviet Union troops had invaded eastern Poland.   The event came after the partition of Poland and the occupation of the nation during World War II.   The eastside of the pediment has a bronze relief depicting the starvation of Poles sent to Siberia.

The National Katyn Memorial is a monument in Baltimore, Maryland, which memorializes the victims of the 1940 Katyn massacre of Polish nationals carried out by Soviet forces.   Baltimore's Polish-American community was instrumental in having the monument built.   The monument was unveiled in 2000 and is the tallest statue in Baltimore.   The statue itself is 44 feet high, the whole monument, with base, is 56 feet.   The statue by sculptor Andrzej Pityński was delivered from Poland and established in the Inner Harbor East at the Aliceanna and President streets.

Stations of the Cross (or Way of the Cross; in Latin, Via Crucis; also called the Via Dolorosa or Way of Sorrows, or simply, The Way) is a series of artistic representations, very often sculptural, depicting Christ Carrying the Cross to his crucifixion in the final hours (or Passion) of Jesus before he died, and the devotions using that series to commemorate the Passion.  These Stations of the Cross were created by Andrzej Pitynski in 2009 and are at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

The Heart of Ignacy Jan Paderewski Poland's Great Patriot - Virtuoso - Statesman Enshrined in the name of Polonia by the Polish American Congress June 29, 1986 Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860 – 1941) was a Polish pianist, composer, diplomat, politician, and the second Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland.  Paderewski died suddenly in New York on 29 June 1941. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington Virginia, near Washington DC. In 1992, his body was brought to Warsaw and placed in St. John's Cathedral. His heart is encased in this bronze sculpture created by Andrzej Pityński in the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa near Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

This bronze plaque of Our Lady of the Home Army (Matka Boska AK) was created by Andrzej Pitynski in 1984. It is sometimes referred to as Our Lady of the Uprising (Matka Boska Powstancza).   Pityński also created a memorial located at the site of one of the Home Army strongholds in Warsaw.   The Warsaw Uprising (Polish: powstanie warszawskie) was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance Home Army (Polish: Armia Krajowa) to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany. The rebellion was timed to coincide with the Soviet Union's Red Army approaching the eastern suburbs of the city and the retreat of German forces.  However, the Soviet advance stopped short, enabling the Germans to regroup and demolish the city while defeating the Polish resistance, which fought for 63 days with little outside support.   About 16,000 members of the Polish resistance were killed and about 6,000 badly wounded. In addition, between 150,000 and 200,000 Polish civilians died, mostly from mass murders.   700,000 people were expelled from the city. 150,000 civilians were sent to forced labor camps in Germany. 55,000 civilians were sent to concentration camps, including 13,000 to Auschwitz.

This Katyn Forest Massacre bronze plaque was created by Andrzej Pityński in 1990.   The Katyn Forest Massacre was a mass execution of Polish nationals carried out by the Soviet secret police NKVD in April–May 1940.   It was based on Lavrentiy Beria's proposal to execute all members of the Polish Officer Corps, dated 5 March 1940.   This official document was approved and signed by the Soviet Politburo, including its leader, Joseph Stalin.   The number of victims is estimated at about 22,000, the most commonly cited number being 21,768.   The victims were murdered in the Katyn Forest in Russia, the Kalinin and Kharkov prisons and elsewhere.   About 8,000 were officers taken prisoner during the 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland, 6,000 police officers, with the rest being Polish intelligentsia arrested for allegedly being "intelligence agents, gendarmes, landowners, saboteurs, factory owners, lawyers, officials and priests".

The Spirit of Feedom was made by Andrew Pityński and is at the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ.   Horses are one of two common themes in Pityński's work.   As a young child he was taught to ride by his grandfather, a Polish lancer, and later, while a student in Krakow, he rode in professional competitions.   At the same time while Pityński was growing up in Poland, his family were outspoken partisans against communist oppression.   The struggle for freedeom that permeates much of his work has it's origins in both the personal and national struggles that he witnessed.

Space, Conquer or Die - "Swiatowid" was made by monumentalist sculptor Andrew Pityński.   He has created monuments sited all over the world, including in the United States, Poland, Italy, and South Africa.   His work also includes monumental portraits, bronze compositions, reliefs and medals.   This monumental composition was cast in bronze in Thailand and installed at Grounds For Sculpture in April 2014.   The sculpture weighs 7 tons and stands 36.5 feet high by 16 feet wide on a gray granite base.

Wladyslaw Anders (11 August 1892 – 12 May 1970) was a General in the Polish Army and later in life a politician with the Polish government-in-exile in London.

Saint Maximilian Maria Kolbe, O.F.M. Conv. (8 January 1894 – 14 August 1941) was a Polish Conventual Franciscan friar, who volunteered to die in place of a stranger in the Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz, located in German-occupied Poland during World War II.  He was very active in promoting the veneration of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, founding and supervising the monastery of Niepokalanów near Warsaw, operating a radio station, and founding or running several other organizations and publications.   Kolbe was canonized on 10 October 1982 by Pope John Paul II, and declared a martyr of charity.  He is the patron saint of drug addicts, political prisoners, families, journalists, prisoners, and the pro-life movement.  John Paul II declared him "The Patron Saint of Our Difficult Century".

Jan Lechoń at Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown, Pennsylvania

The Spirit of Freedom at night, Hamilton, NJ

Papieź Jan Paweł II in New York City

Papieź Jan Paweł II in Cygany, Polska

Papieź Jan Paweł II in Ulanów

Katyn 1940 in Jersey City

Father Popiełuszko,Trenton, NJ

Tadeusz Jan Kwiatkowski, Cemetery at Czestochowa in Doylestown, Pennsylvania