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Portrait of Svend Lassen (1934)
The copy of the work shows Szukalski's drawing composition - a portrait of a friend from California, biochemist Svend Lassen. This drawing remained among other works in the studio in Poland, and the artist believed that his remaining works had been stolen by the communist governments. The photographic version of the portrait was probably made during the Szukalski and Rogate Heart exhibition, Kraków (1936), where its cartoon version was displayed (item 380 in the exhibition catalog). The photograph also remained in the country and was found only after many years in the south of Poland. The artist regarded the human face as a "passport" of personality and an "introduction" to its study. He admired Lassen's face and included it in The Anthropolitical Motivations (1979) as an illustration of the "Human Type" as opposed to the "A-human". Lenin, Marx and Hitler.
Politwarus (project of monument) (1923)
"The mythic figure 'Politvarus' combines the names of three soiltilling (non-predator) nations: Poland, Lithuania, and Rus (the present Ukraine). Beneath the galloping 'Politvarus' streaks the lightning of swift resolve. The drawing (more than likely destroyed in the bombing of Warsaw in WWII) is a sketch for a sculpture that was never completed" - from the book "Struggle: The Art of Szukalski" (2000).
Politwarus was conceived as a tribute to the historical Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and to the victorious Battle of Warsaw of 1920 - this amazing monument had Józef Piłsudski's face and was to be located in Warsaw on Saxon Square.
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Lotus (portrait of the Japanese woman) (1940)
Returning to California escaping the siege of Warsaw, I found an apartment in Westwood, California, with by beloved second wife Joan. One of our immediate neighbors was this classic looking Japanese girl, named Lotus. She generously sat for me to draw her in carbon pencil. This drawing is much over life-size. It still intrigues me that I rarely see beautiful Chinese ladies, yet I very often meet with the beauty of Japanese ladies. I have found no answer for this, though I am inclined to think that the Chinese race evolved in greater hardships and heartbreaks than the Japanese. I am positive that heartbreaks destroy our good looks.
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Portrait of a Wistful Lady (1950)
This dear lady, the German-American wife of an American Pole was anemic, hence prevalently dejected in spirit. The overlapping upper eyelids, denoting kidney malfunction, made her predominant expression that of melancholic sadness. Faces are like lanterns, some of them unlighted by the spark of vivacious life. I took liberty with her hair, standing on end some seashells.
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