Kruk Gregor.Sculptures, drawings.Munich, 1980

Gregor Kruk. Skulpturen. Zeichnungen.

Munich, 1980. — 2nd edition. — Ill. Print: Druckerei Gebr. Parcus KG, Munich. Text in German; Jean Cassou's review — in German, English, and French; illustration captions in German and English.

Cream-colored softcover edition: the word "KRUK" printed in black at the top, below which is a black-and-white reproduction of a sculptural portrait. The cover is clean, with a few small brown spots and lighter staining at the bottom near the spine. Cream paper. The lower edges of the title page and the following clean page show water stains; reproduction No. 90 has a dark fingerprint. One of the opening pages has a black-and-white ex-libris pasted on it, "Vol. Hordynskyi," depicting churches, a high-rise building, and a coat of arms. Condition: good.

The book has artistic and historical-cultural value as an illustrated publication on the work of sculptor Hryhorii Kruk, whose works were exhibited in Europe, America, and Asia; of collector interest to collectors of diaspora art.

INFORMATION

A small edition in a narrow format showcases two sides of Hryhorii Kruk's work — sculpture and drawing. The reproductions are numbered and captioned in German and English: "Youth with a Dove" (Jüngling mit Taube), "Refugee Family" (Flüchtlingsfamilie), "Child's Head" (Kinderkopf), "Swimmer" (Schwimmerin), a study of a nude man, as well as a bust of Cardinal Józef Ślipecki — in the photograph, the sculptor is working on it in his studio. Among the reproductions is a drawing dated 15.6.1979 with the author's monogram. An epigraph is placed before the title — the words of English social critic Malcolm Muggeridge about a civilization that educates its own barbarians. The introductory review by Jean Cassou, curator and director of the French National Museum in Paris, emphasizes the truthfulness and rustic simplicity of Kruk's art.

Hryhorii (Gregor) Kruk (1911–1988) — sculptor and graphic artist, born in the village of Bratyshiv in Tlumachyna to a family of potters. Graduated from the Lviv School of Art and Industry, studied at the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts in the studio of Konstanty Łaszka, and subsequently at the Berlin State Academy of Fine Arts under Alfred Hocken; here he was also a student and assistant of Otto Gitzberger. From 1945, he lived in Munich, where he had a studio in Schwabing. In 1949, with the mediation of Monsignor Buchka, he undertook a six-month course of study in Italy, in 1964 he received a medal from the Pope for a portrait bust of Paul VI, and in Gmünd, Austria, a monument was erected in his memory to the Galician displaced persons who died in the camps. The sculptor's solo exhibitions took place in Munich, Paris, London, Rome, New York, Vienna, Toronto.

The second edition was published in Munich in 1980; it was printed by the Gebr. Parcus KG printing house, and the artist's address and telephone number are provided on the back.