Although Szukalski was born in 1893 in Warta (a fact he emphasised later in life by frequently using the artistic pseudonym ‘Stach from Warta’ ) , he spent his youth in Chicago, to which he had emigrated with his family in 1907 for economic reasons. Once there, at the age of 16, he attended weekend classes at the nd the Art Institute of Chicago, which he completed shortly before leaving to study at the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied from 1910 to 1913. In 1913 Szukalski returned to Chicago , where he continued his education at the Art Institute of Chicago .

In 1916–1917, exhibitions of Szukalski’s work at the Institute twice caused scandals which sent shockwaves through Chicago’s art scene, contributing in part to the formation of the independent No-Jury Society of Artists , founded in 1922 by Carl Hoeckner (1883–1972), Raymond Jonson (1891–1982) and Rudolph Weisenborn (1881–1974) with the aim of organising exhibitions. Szukalski’s membership of this group and his anarchist stance at the time are documented in a leaflet by Emil Armin, preserved in the collections of the Smithsonian Archives of American Art in Washington (l link to the Smithsonian Archives of American Art website ). Contemporary researchers emphasise the enormous significance of Stach z Warty’s exhibitions for the establishment of modernism in Chicago. During this period, Szukalski also belonged to the Chicago Black Renaissance and the Dill Pickle Club.

Szukalski’s standing in the United States during the 1920s within Chicago’s artistic bohemian circles is evidenced by two monographs published at that time devoted to the artist: *Work of Szukalski*, published by Covici-McGee in 1923, and *Projects in Design* ( link to the publication on the Internet Archive website ), published by the University of Chicago Press in 1929. Despite the unwavering interest his art aroused among the American public in the early decades of the 20th century, Szukalski left for Poland in 1923, where, with the occasional trip to France and Italy, he remained until the outbreak of the Second World War .

Szukalski’s early works in American public collections

Few institutions in the United States hold works by the artist from his Chicago period in their collections. Two sculptures dating from his time as a student at the Art Institute of Chicago are now held in the collection of the Polish Museum in America: the plaster portrait ‘My Father the Blacksmith’ (1913) and the polychrome plaster ‘Self-Portrait’ (1914) ( see ‘ Father and Son – two sculptures by Stanisław Szukalski’, a documentary film, Polish Museum in America ). These works – the first executed in a naturalistic style , the second clearly idealised – stylistically diverge from the depictions characteristic of Szukalski’s work from the second decade of the 20th century , featuring deformed bodies, with exaggerated anatomical features or mutilated — of which contemporary casts can be found in the Szukalski Archives.

The most impressive collection of Szukalski’s drawings from the second decade of the 20th century is held by the Newberry Library in Chicago ( link to the collection of Szukalski’s works on the Newberry Library’s website in Chicago ), where five portraits by the Polish artist are held: three portraits of the founder of the Dill Pickle Club – Jack Jones – from 1919 – one in pencil, two in ink; a pencil sketch depicting S. Bauch (?) from 1916; and an ink portrait of an unidentified man from 1918. The works are executed in a variety of styles – ranging from drawings executed with quick, sketchy strokes to carefully crafted compositions characterised by precise linework and distinct modelling.

The collection of Szukalski’s early works in American public collections is complemented by a print by Szukalski, held at the Art Institute of Chicago , created using the drypoint technique in 1916 and depicting a fantastical animal ( link to the Art Institute of Chicago website ). The work foreshadows Szukalski’s later works, which combine seemingly incongruous elements.

Alternative modernity

In the 1920s , Stach of Warta began searching for a modern artistic formula—an alternative to historicising approaches—intended to serve not so much the factual reconstruction of the past as the pursuit of a universal arche – source. His quest for illud tempus – that mythical time of the beginning – led him to study various mythologies and artistic traditions, including Slavic and pre-Columbian ones, which he subsequently combined within his own artistic language. The context for this quest may be found in the ‘ethnographic turn’ prevalent at the time in the work of certain Formists [Tytus Czyżewski (1880–1945), August Zamoyski (1893–1970)] and Zofia Stryjeńska (1891–1976).

Controversies

Although Szukalski’s criticism of the influence of Western European art at the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts , and his call for a revival of Proto-Slavic art , sparked controversy among Polish academics, these ideas found fertile ground amongst young artists, who in 1929 founded the ‘Szukalszczycy’ group, bearing the ‘Rogate Serce’ coat of arms. Linked to this episode was the launch of the short-lived magazine *Krak*, which promoted Szukalski’s concept of national art and the nationalist demands for the creation of a ‘racially pure’ Slavic society. Although the artist later distanced himself from the anti-Semitic rhetoric inherent in this project—which bore a close resemblance to totalitarianism—he nevertheless remained deeply interested in ethnic issues, and the views he espoused in his youth had an impact on the subsequent reception of his art .

Szukalski at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York

Despite the controversy surrounding his views, in 1939 Szukalski was invited to take part in the World’s Fair in New York. The copy of the medal featuring a portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus presented at the exhibition – which is now held in the collection of the Polish Museum of America – was a variation on the artist’s 1925 design depicting the genius. The artist returned to the figure of the scientist on several further occasions; examples of this can be found in the prints held in the PMA’s collection.

Szukalski’s unbridled imagination in the (post-)war years

After the outbreak of the Second World War, Szukalski emigrated to the United States. He spent the final years of his life in Los Angeles . During this time, he worked primarily on a richly illustrated treatise on the theory of Zermatism – a pseudoscientific attempt to explain the origins of humanity and the world’s languages, based on biological determinism and the theory of hidden relationships governing the history of civilisation, which was intended, in the artist’s view, form the basis for a revision of existing knowledge in the fields of history, anthropology and zoology. An analysis of Szukalski’s manuscripts on Zermatism, now held at the Szukalski Archives (link to the Archives Szukalski website ) , reveals the desire, underlying the project, to critique totalitarian ideologies and the racial hierarchies they established.

Whilst devoting himself to producing publications on Zermatism, Szukalski remained on the fringes of the art world from the 1940s onwards, even though, immediately after the war, his work had attracted considerable interest from the Hollywood film community – at that time, he collaborated, amongst other things, on set design projects for the films *Spellbound* (1945) and *The Paradine Case* (1947), both directed by Alfred Hitchcock .

Glenn Bray, the underground comic art scene and the founding of the Szukalski Archives

In 1972, Szukalski became acquainted with the comic book collector Glenn Bray (born 1948), who introduced him to the circle of underground comic artists, who used the medium as a tool for social and political criticism. The archetypes, heroic figures, penchant for gigantism and horror vacui present in the art of Stach z Warty soon became an important point of reference for the work of a younger generation of artists operating on the fringes of comics and counterculture, such as Robert Williams (b. 1943) and Rick Griffin (1944–1991).

Following Szukalski’s death in 1987, Bray — to whom the artist had bequeathed his body of work and copyright — founded the Szukalski Archives in Sylmar, California ( link to the Szukalski Archives website ). The activities of the institution, which houses the world’s largest private collection of works by Stach z Warty , focuses on promoting the artist’s work through the production of themed publications and limited-edition casts, as well as raising awareness of the Polish sculptor’s life and oeuvre.

Szukalski’s grand comeback featuring Leonardo DiCaprio

Thanks to funding from Leonardo DiCaprio, the son of George DiCaprio—a writer, actor and comic-book artist who was a friend of Szukalski’s— the film *The Struggle: The Life and Lost Works of Stanisław Szukalski* was released on Netflix in 2018 . The production, which frames the life story of ‘Stach from Warta’ within the archetype of a genius teetering on the edge of eccentricity and madness, sparked international interest in the artist.