To celebrate the Advent and Christmas seasons, the McNichols Campus Library is exhibiting four oil paintings by Detroit artist Helen Klisz Dudzinski (1910-2003). These Christmas-themed paintings depict holiday traditions as Dudzinski remembered them as a young girl in post-World War I Poland, at the time of a newly independent Poland during the Second Polish Republic.
The paintings will be on display until Jan. 5, 2024, in the Library lobby.
In 1962, Dudzinski — a retired businesswoman, widow, mother of four, grandmother of two—began a series of oil paintings depicting the religious beliefs, customs, legends and traditions of the Polish people as she remembered them through the eyes of a child.
The Poland Remembered Series eventually grew to 47 paintings, and Dudzinski turned her artistic vision to stories and events from the Bible, as well as American folklore and history, such as Noah’s Ark, Johnny Appleseed and the Great Michigan Fire of 1881. Over the years, her paintings have been exhibited at numerous juried shows.
The Detroit City Council honored Helen Klisz Dudzinski with Testimonial Resolutions in 1979 and 1990, recognizing that “Helen’s unique and imaginative style of painting gives visual form and life to history, traditions, lore, legends and memories that have survived countless generations.”
See the exhibit guide for more information!
