Michał Kalitowicz, 'Switzerland as a hospitable land', 1943, painting on plaster, mixed technique, Enges, Notre-Dame-des Anges chapel, photo Norbert Piwowarczyk, 2024, all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca Painting \"Switzerland as a land of hospitality\" in Enges
Michał Kalitowicz, „Szwajcaria jako ziemia gościnna”, 1943, malowidło na tynku, technika mieszana, Enges, kaplica Notre-Dame-des Anges, photo Andrzej Pieńkos, 2014
Licencja: CC BY-SA 4.0, Źródło: Instytut Polonika, Warunki licencji
Fotografia przedstawiająca Painting \"Switzerland as a land of hospitality\" in Enges
Michał Kalitowicz, „Szwajcaria jako ziemia gościnna”, 1943, malowidło na tynku, technika mieszana, Enges, kaplica Notre-Dame-des Anges, photo Andrzej Pieńkos, 2014
Licencja: CC BY-SA 4.0, Źródło: Instytut Polonika, Warunki licencji
Fotografia przedstawiająca Painting \"Switzerland as a land of hospitality\" in Enges
Michał Kalitowicz, „Szwajcaria jako ziemia gościnna”, 1943, malowidło na tynku, technika mieszana, Enges, kaplica Notre-Dame-des Anges, photo Andrzej Pieńkos, 2014
Licencja: CC BY-SA 4.0, Źródło: Instytut Polonika, Warunki licencji
Fotografia przedstawiająca Painting \"Switzerland as a land of hospitality\" in Enges
Interior of the chapel of Our Lady of the Angels (Notre-Dame-des Anges), Enges, photo Norbert Piwowarczyk, 2024, all rights reserved
Źródło: Polonika
Fotografia przedstawiająca Painting \"Switzerland as a land of hospitality\" in Enges
Plaque commemorating the stay of Polish soldiers in Enges with the symbol of the 2nd DSP depicting an eagle (designed by Bohdan Garlinski) in the Roman Catholic Chapel of Our Lady of the Angels (Notre Dame des Anges), 1943, photo Norbert Piwowarczyk, 2023, all rights reserved
Źródło: Polonika
Fotografia przedstawiająca Painting \"Switzerland as a land of hospitality\" in Enges
Plaque commemorating the stay of Polish soldiers in Enges with a guttergraph of Our Lady of Czestochowa by Tadeusz Fuss-Kaden, 1942, in the Roman Catholic Chapel of Our Lady of the Angels (Notre Dame des Anges), 1943, photo Norbert Piwowarczyk, 2024, all rights reserved
Źródło: Polonika
Fotografia przedstawiająca Painting \"Switzerland as a land of hospitality\" in Enges
Chapel of Our Lady of the Angels (Notre-Dame-des Anges) in Enges, photo Norbert Piwowarczyk, 2024, all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca Painting \"Switzerland as a land of hospitality\" in Enges
Chapel of Our Lady of the Angels (Notre-Dame-des Anges) in Enges, photo Norbert Piwowarczyk, 2024, all rights reserved
Źródło: Polonika
Fotografia przedstawiająca Painting \"Switzerland as a land of hospitality\" in Enges
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ID: POL-001336-P

Painting "Switzerland as a land of hospitality" in Enges

ID: POL-001336-P

Painting "Switzerland as a land of hospitality" in Enges

Variants of the name:
Wnętrze rzymokokatolickiej kaplicy Matki Boskiej Anielskiej (Notre Dame des Anges)

Michał Kalitowicz (the surname Kalinowicz is sometimes erroneously given), referred to here as Michel Kali, was a private in the Polish Second Infantry Rifle Division, which crossed the French-Swiss border near Enges in the Jura in June 1940 and was interned in Switzerland. The naïve stylisation of the painting may have been intentional, as behind the signature 'Michal Kali' is probably a painter educated before 1939 at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts, who after 1945 settled in France, where he exhibited his paintings and also became curator of the Musée Bourdelle in Paris.

The iconography of the painting is unusual and combines Polish accents with knowledge of the history of the area: against the backdrop of the panorama of the Alps and the lakes of Neuchâtel and Biel, successive examples of Swiss hospitality given to refugees from France are recounted: these are Saint Jeanne-Antide Thouret of Besanҫon, founder of the Order of the Sisters of Charity, fleeing revolutionary France in 1797, a soldier of the French corps of General Bourbaki, interned in 1871; a French soldier from the First World War, a Polish infantryman from 1940. Ribbons with inscriptions in French identifying the contents have been placed under the individual figures. At the bottom of the painting, on the axis of symmetry, there is a large information plaque with an inscription explaining the iconography and the history of the creation of the work. It is the largest and most original of all the paintings commemorating the stay of Polish internees in Switzerland.

The small, single-space brick chapel, standing by the roadside, was built in the 17th century (consecrated in 1678) and completely renovated after the fire of 1858. The painting fills a large part of its left internal wall, between two windows with contemporary stained glass. According to local tradition (no archival confirmation), Polish soldiers were commissioned to carry out another renovation of the chapel's interior, and the Kalitovich scene was created during this work. According to the inscription on the painting, the project was conceived on the third anniversary of his internment - 19 June 1943. During this period, until the end of 1944, he corresponded in French with the well-known Swiss art critic William Ritter, a good friend of Józef Mehoffer among others.

Embedded in the right-hand wall of the chapel are two stone Polish plaques of thanksgiving from June 1943, with inscriptions in Latin and Polish, and a bronze ryngraf, made by Tadeusz Fuss-Kaden in 1942. The painting is well-preserved, having been restored in 1976 and again in 2005 by Michel Muttner.

The keys to the chapel are kept by the nearby Hôtel du Chasseur restaurant, where you can also hear the story of Polish soldiers building the main road below the village during the internment period. A few hundred metres below Enges, towards the west, at a fork in the woods, there is a boulder commemorating this work, with a bas-relief eagle and the inscription: "Poles 1940-44". In front of the chapel itself, meanwhile, a stone plaque (now in a state of disrepair) is embedded in the fence, indicating that the restoration work was completed by Polish soldiers on 15 August 1943.

Related persons:
Time of origin:
1943
Creator:
Tadeusz Fuss-Kaden (malarz; Polska, Szwajcaria, Francja, Hiszpania)(preview), Michał Kalitowicz (malarz; Polska, Francja)(preview)
Bibliography:
  • Jan Zieliński, „Nasza Szwajcaria”, Warszawa 1999, s. 54.
  • Jacques Bujard, „La Chapelle d’Enges. Lieu de prière et de culture sur les hauteurs”, broszura.
  • „Polskie ślady w Solurze i Zuchwilu / Polnische Spuren in Solothurn und Zuchwil”, red. P. Zielony, T. Ackermann, R. Pawłowski, Warszawa–Solothurn 2022, s. 107, 110.
Keywords:
Publikacja:
15.07.2024
Ostatnia aktualizacja:
02.08.2024
Author:
prof. Andrzej Pieńkos
see more Text translated automatically
Fotografia przedstawiająca Painting \"Switzerland as a land of hospitality\" in Enges Fotografia przedstawiająca Painting \"Switzerland as a land of hospitality\" in Enges Gallery of the object +8
Michał Kalitowicz, 'Switzerland as a hospitable land', 1943, painting on plaster, mixed technique, Enges, Notre-Dame-des Anges chapel, photo Norbert Piwowarczyk, 2024, all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca Painting \"Switzerland as a land of hospitality\" in Enges Fotografia przedstawiająca Painting \"Switzerland as a land of hospitality\" in Enges Gallery of the object +8
Michał Kalitowicz, „Szwajcaria jako ziemia gościnna”, 1943, malowidło na tynku, technika mieszana, Enges, kaplica Notre-Dame-des Anges, photo Andrzej Pieńkos, 2014
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Fotografia przedstawiająca Painting \"Switzerland as a land of hospitality\" in Enges Fotografia przedstawiająca Painting \"Switzerland as a land of hospitality\" in Enges Gallery of the object +8
Michał Kalitowicz, „Szwajcaria jako ziemia gościnna”, 1943, malowidło na tynku, technika mieszana, Enges, kaplica Notre-Dame-des Anges, photo Andrzej Pieńkos, 2014
View license information
Fotografia przedstawiająca Painting \"Switzerland as a land of hospitality\" in Enges Fotografia przedstawiająca Painting \"Switzerland as a land of hospitality\" in Enges Gallery of the object +8
Michał Kalitowicz, „Szwajcaria jako ziemia gościnna”, 1943, malowidło na tynku, technika mieszana, Enges, kaplica Notre-Dame-des Anges, photo Andrzej Pieńkos, 2014
View license information
Fotografia przedstawiająca Painting \"Switzerland as a land of hospitality\" in Enges Fotografia przedstawiająca Painting \"Switzerland as a land of hospitality\" in Enges Gallery of the object +8
Interior of the chapel of Our Lady of the Angels (Notre-Dame-des Anges), Enges, photo Norbert Piwowarczyk, 2024, all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca Painting \"Switzerland as a land of hospitality\" in Enges Fotografia przedstawiająca Painting \"Switzerland as a land of hospitality\" in Enges Gallery of the object +8
Plaque commemorating the stay of Polish soldiers in Enges with the symbol of the 2nd DSP depicting an eagle (designed by Bohdan Garlinski) in the Roman Catholic Chapel of Our Lady of the Angels (Notre Dame des Anges), 1943, photo Norbert Piwowarczyk, 2023, all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca Painting \"Switzerland as a land of hospitality\" in Enges Fotografia przedstawiająca Painting \"Switzerland as a land of hospitality\" in Enges Gallery of the object +8
Plaque commemorating the stay of Polish soldiers in Enges with a guttergraph of Our Lady of Czestochowa by Tadeusz Fuss-Kaden, 1942, in the Roman Catholic Chapel of Our Lady of the Angels (Notre Dame des Anges), 1943, photo Norbert Piwowarczyk, 2024, all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca Painting \"Switzerland as a land of hospitality\" in Enges Fotografia przedstawiająca Painting \"Switzerland as a land of hospitality\" in Enges Gallery of the object +8
Chapel of Our Lady of the Angels (Notre-Dame-des Anges) in Enges, photo Norbert Piwowarczyk, 2024, all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca Painting \"Switzerland as a land of hospitality\" in Enges Fotografia przedstawiająca Painting \"Switzerland as a land of hospitality\" in Enges Gallery of the object +8
Chapel of Our Lady of the Angels (Notre-Dame-des Anges) in Enges, photo Norbert Piwowarczyk, 2024, all rights reserved

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