Zdzislaw Ruszkowski
Preface

It was one of Ruszkowski's main characteristics that, in spite of the abundance of groups and movements of the twentieth century and the many and changing theories on art, some serious some less so, he managed to maintain a straight line of development and remain immune to outside influences. He had deep-rooted and high principles about art. Having as guidance the examples of the artists who most impressed him, among others Van Gogh, Cezanne, Bonnard, Monet, and the old masters Titian and Rembrandt, he was able to continue undisturbed down his own individual path, one that required a strong commitment and belief. He was prepared to resign from being "in the swim" of contemporary art and labeled "modern", especially at a time when abstract art invaded the whole of the artistic scene.
This catalogue strives to give a clear and comprehensive idea of Ruszkowski's artistic growth and the stages and changes that his art has undergone.
Ruszkowski's development as an artist can be seen in the following stages. As a schoolboy the pre-Academy paintings were strongly influenced by the artist's father, with whom he painted. Ruszkowski was concerned with expressing realism and representing accurately what he saw. This was later encouraged by the Academy, and it was only after this period, from 1931 onwards, that he strove to reject what he considered the facile and illusionary style of painting acquired at the Academy. He tried hard to locate a new path for his art, and the first guide in this direction was the influence of Van Gogh. It was only then that he began to understand the real problems involved in serious painting.

In 1935 Ruszkowski went to live in Paris, where he was greatly influenced by the work of Cezanne and the beauty of the countryside around Aix-en-Provence in the south of France; this is reflected in the paintings of this period. In 1939 he stayed in Versailles but the threat of imminent war and chaos in Europe depressed him and affected his enthusiasm to paint. In 1940 he escaped from France to England, where he served with the Polish army based in Scotland until 1944. Very few paintings were executed during this period.

Ruszkowski saw his development since the end of the Second World War in five broadly overlapping stages. From his Post-Impressionistic attitude to nature, where the movement of colour on the surface of the canvas suggests air and light, came the need for more austerity in colour and its treatment. In this second stage (1946-50), the palette is restricted, colour is more integrated, and form more strongly defined. This sober period gradually develops into Ruszkowski's third stage (1951-4), a moody and poetical approach to nature, inspired by the Cornish landscape. From this approach, form gradually changes to pattern, and colour becomes richer and more intense. Ruszkowski's preoccupation with light in painting assumed a major role in the fourth stage (1955-62), and large areas of shadow, often black, are used to achieve greater contrast in the lit parts of the painting. Light now plays a constructional role in his paintings, having an almost material quality, and passages from shadow to light have definite shape and colour.

Such strong contrasts of dark and light could not last for long, and gradually in the fifth period (1963) blacks began to be replaced by large areas of calm grey, giving special brilliance to animated patches of colour. Gradually the shadows disappear, the whole canvas is lit, and colour plays a prominent role, expressing light, form and space. This attitude, giving the greatest field of expression, remained with him to the end of his life.

Michael Simonow