The review appeared in A&B 7-8'2021
Pniewski was a great architect. Period. Master, Foreman, Professor. Architect. An unsurpassed model for subsequent generations of Polish designers. But what was Pniewski's greatness based on ? Was it only in the fact that, as Stanislaw Jankowski recalled , "he knew hisjob and drew brilliantly [...], had asense of humor and kept his cool "1? Theuniqueness of the character was determined by many factors, character traits and elements of the image that he carefully cultivated. So, who was really the creator of the design of the Temple ofDivine Providence and the Sejm building?Who is Pniewski on the pages of Gregory Friday's book?
Bohdan Pniewski
© National Digital Archive | courtesy of Filtry Publishing House
cracks on the monument
Just as there is no single true, objective History, but thousands of stories and narratives about events seen from different perspectives, there is no single true portrait of Bohdan Pniewski. The figure of the Professor comes to life in the memories of former students and colleagues, materializes on the pages of books or articles. Each time a new image is created, another of the many portraits of the Master. What, then, is Grzegorz Piątek's Pniewski like?
Indestructible. The title of the book captivated me long before its release. One word that extremely accurately characterizes the first architect of Sanacja and at the same time the leading creator of People's Poland. Pniewski appears as an ancient hero, a titan rising above everyone around him. A monument hewn from the finest marble that seems immune to the social, political and intellectual storms sweeping the world. Indestructible. Unmatched. Irreplaceable. Unchangeable. Invincible. Or perhaps the Ambiguous?
Pniewski, whom Piątek describes, is undoubtedly a monumental figure, but this monument is not perfect. In subsequent chapters the author shows more cracks, cracks, cavities. It is not without reason that the book's cover features a bust of Pniewski, which was on the facade of the Brühl Palace and later stood in the courtyard of the Warsaw University of Technology. History has left permanent marks on the antique idealized image of the hero architect. Time has covered them with dirt and patina. Friday does not put himself in the role of an unmasker trying to unmake the hero at all costs. On the contrary - in the course of reading one can become convinced that a peculiar thread of sympathy has formed between him and Pniewski. However, it did not restrain the author, who uncovers troublesome pages in the biography of the architect.
architect with many faces
Piątek spins a tale, developing further threads. Lively, storytelling language creates a narrative whose character corresponds perfectly with Pniewski's personality. At times, one can be under the illusion that it is the Master himself narrating his life. That we are in a villa on the Escarpment, a bottle is cooling in the stoup, and sitting in a Biedermeier armchair, Pniewski conjures up a story with his words, which is exactly like the architecture he creates - visual and sensual. It combines various themes and traditions. It is a story whose author surprises his listeners every now and then with a brilliant anecdote or an unexpected digression.
As Janusz Sepiol wrote, "Pniewski was not a classicist, nor was he an innovator. "2 A dogmatic attitude to a particular style, a devout belief in a single idea were alien to him. The goal was perfect work, perfect craftsmanship - good architecture. Friday draws attention to the theatrical character of the buildings designed by Pniewski. The architect consciously built sequences of events in the space to guide the user and the viewer. "He treated each elevation as a separate issue," notes Piątek, describing the Skarpa villa and the Franciszka Nowicki townhouse . It was enough to change the point of view, and behold, a seemingly familiar building took on a new shape. He felt perfectly comfortable designing representative interiors, whose task was to dazzle viewers. For him, scale and proportion were part of a spatial game, which he masterfully conducted. The impressive staircase in his own villa had slightly too low steps and was deprived of handrails - all so that the statuesquely beautiful Jadwiga Pniewska could (had to!) stately descend to greet guests. The Courts Building on Leszno strikes one with serious monumentalism (in the style of Italian architecture of Mussolini's era!). The parliamentary halls and corridors shine with shades of white, and surprise with their lightness ("wedding cake" - Jerzy Soltan mockingly called the building). The Grand Theater overpowers with its sumptuous interiors ("bourgeois-Moscow-rich," Monika Zeromska mocked).
Pniewski's architecture was diverse, surprising, controversial, ambiguous. Pniewski was also like that. Loving life, luxury and fame. Conceited and magnanimous at the same time. Avoiding strong declarations, which in turbulent times could have done more harm than good.
Opening of the exhibition at ASP, June 4, 1938;
from right: President of Warsaw Stefan Starzyński, Professor Bohdan Pniewski, Deputy Minister of Religious Denominations and Public Enlightenment Jerzy Aleksandrowicz, Rector of ASP Professor Wojciech Jastrzębowski
photo: Władysław Miernicki © National Digital Archive | courtesy of Filtry Publishing House
architect and actor
Some people maliciously referred to Pniewski as the "primadonna of Warsaw architecture." Indeed, the Major's manner had something of the mannerisms of the great stars of the stage. Slawomir Gzell recalled that when Pniewski walked the corridors of the Architecture Department, it was immediately clear that here was "someone walking, with a capital K." Boleslaw Kardaszewski succumbed to the Professor's charm to such an extent that years later he introduced some of his rituals into his repertoire, trying, like the Master, to build an aura of uniqueness around himself. Tadeusz Mycek wrote that Pniewski ("like all the greats") liked to pass himself off as an original3. He reportedly searched a dictionary of foreign words for rarely used words and unusual phrases, and then embarrassed students or assistants.
He assumed the costume of a world traveler, even though he spent little time abroad. He appeared to be an intellectual, although, according to Mycek and Marek Czapelski, his theoretical output "was rather modest and did not stand the test of time. "4 He would javelinate between styles in architecture and political coteries. He played out his masterful performance like a skilled actor remaining in the spotlight regardless of the era.
timeless
The characterization of Pniewski's character created by Gregory Friday is similar to his designs. Each elevation is different, each change of point of view allows us to discover new, often surprising, elements and details. On the one hand, we have a colorful characterization of a flesh-and-blood man - Pniewski the Non-ideal. On the other - we can observe the process of erecting a monument to Pniewski the Indestructible. Another point of view reveals a picture that goes beyond the dimension of the individual. Pniewski the Indeterminate is not a single person, but a phenomenon. Pniewski Unspecified.
It would be a mistake to confine "Indeterminate" within the framework of a history book. After all, Friday once again proves that a description of the past can be a pretext to talk about current affairs. Like "Sanator" and "The Best City in the World," Pniewski's story is a kind of metaphor, which, like Pawel Jasienica's historical books, can be read on different levels.
If we look under the costume of the times of Sanation and Bierut, take off the cladding of Szydlowiec marble and alabaster, we will see the construction - the mechanisms governing the profession of an architect. We will see the "kitchen" of the profession. Dilemmas and not easy choices. Compromises and conflicts. And a question that seems as relevant today as it was a few decades ago: can architecture be a pure entity, striving for goodness and beauty, not entangled in the current political game?
Błażej Ciarkowski
1 M. Czapelski "Bohdan Pniewski - Warszawski architekt XX wieku", Warsaw 2008, p.309.
2 J. Sepiol "Architects and history", Cracow 2015, p.136.
3 T. Mycek "Meetings with the masters. Portraits of 63 Polish architects", Warsaw 1998, p.17.
4 Ibid.
