Broke Students in 1930s Paris
Feb 01, 2024 6:05 pm
The artist Marek Zulawski, translation & Polish-British culture
Hi,
Last week, I discovered a new exhibition is opening dedicated to the work of Hanna and Jacek Żuławski. It opens on 20th Februrary at BWA Bydgoszcz and is on until 29th March.
The couple were most active in the so-called Tricity, i.e. Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia, and you can even see gargoyles based on them right in the middle of Gdańsk's Old Town. Bydgoszcz is a bit further south, but also famously picturesque.
In honour of this new event, I've translated a short excerpt from Marek's autobiography. It's from when the three of them all lived together in a dishevelled apartment in Paris while studying painting under Felicjan Kowarski.
Kowarski (third from the right) with some of his students, including my father Marek
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Hanna, Jacek & Marek in Paris
Using a tiny electric heater I wasn't allowed to use, I'd cook porridge and warm milk. I was never hungry. But sometimes I did crave something different.
Jacek and Hanka didn't know how I could eat the same thing all the time. Besides, they couldn't stand milk.
They suffered more than me.
Whenever our painter colleague Józek Natanson talked about the incredible feasts at his millionaire cousins', the Demareis oil barons, we would listen completely fascinated, absolutely enchanted. Although they never bought a single painting from him, at least they felt obliged to invite him to their place every Thursday. Józek — tall, slender and cultured — would show off his beautiful French and none of the bourgeoisie there suspected for a moment that he, just like us, was barely getting by on a Polish stipend that left him starving.
He came back from the Demareis family warmed up by the high life and champagne — and always incredibly eloquent.
He gestured animatedly. His descriptions were wonderful.
“Tell us again about the artichokes in vinaigrette,” Hanka asked, sitting dreamily on her crumpled bed. Józek immediately started describing them again — even more precise, more complete, and even more delicious.
Hanka sat with her eyes closed, while Jacek smoked some Gauloises cigarette butts he'd found in the street.
I pretended I didn't care about these things.
Natanson's voice — like a concert by Wojski — sounded more and more quiet, more and more perfect, until it fell silent somewhere far away, somewhere on the threshold of heaven.
In that dirty hotel room, beyond which stretched the whole inaccessible world, there fell a silence.
"Let's just go to Montparnasse...," suggested Jacek, "for a black coffee."
I will probably translate something else about Hanna and Jacek in the next edition of the newsletter too. Again, the exhibition about them is on in Bydgoszcz (a popular Ryanair destination 😁) and you can find the details here.
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A Real Pain
I'd heard whispers last year about a new film starring Kieran Culkin and Jessie Eisenberg that was being filmed in Warsaw and Lublin.
I was pleased to hear it had its premiere at Sundance recently, so the rumours must have been true. It's about two American brothers visiting Poland and arguing a lot. The critics seemed to like it and it was quickly snapped up by a distributor so hopefully the rest of us will see it soon.
Culkin was fantastic in the TV show Succession, and apparently Jessie Eisenberg really does have Polish Jewish roots and even speaks a little Polish, so I assume his script and direction will ring true to his experience. Both of these factors make it the film I'm most looking forward to this year (I don't know what else is coming out, to be fair!).
There only seems to be one promo still available, which you can see below. Most people who've spent time in Poland will immediately recognise the background behind the duo: POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
The promise of the film tackling Polish Jewish history intrigues me. Poland is unfortunately thought of by many Americans simply as "that place where the Holocaust happened". I've heard people proudly boasting they're touring Europe, only to spend the briefest time in Poland purely to visit Auschwitz.
I'm not sure this film will change that perspective much but hopefully it'll expand it at least a little. After all, are there any other American films set in the Lubelskie region? Probably not 😁
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That's all for this week. Many thanks for reading.
Adam
p.s. If anybody you know is looking for a Polish-to-English translator for family memoirs, go ahead and put them in touch with me.
Adam Zulawski