Stanislav Szukalski (1893-1987)

O.K. -- I have to have a post about Stanislav Szukalski -- like so many of us self-directed people who spend their lives making 'art' for themselves -- he's a magnificent solipcist.


The above self-portrait is the only work I've seen, so far, that I can stand to look at -- but I wouldn't hold my taste against him.


Despite the ups and permanent down of his career, he continued to make sculpture -- including a maquette for a monument to France -- presenting a female figure wrapped in snakes: "That is the woman who symbolizes France. She is being crushed and ensnared by all the "-isms" of modern Europe. There is Fascism, and there is Communism ... and there is Ventriloquism."

Here's a very entertaining essay by someone who knew and admired him.

Have fun !