Witness to the monument

Jerzy Piątek belongs to the group of photographers whose preferred form of artistic expression is capturing the world around us with a camera. The artist’s body of work includes documentation of important events that took place in the Kielce region. The opportunity to show a series of forgotten 1970s photos – devoted to the creation of the monument to the Fighters for National Liberation at Kadzielnia – precisely at the Centre of Polish Sculpture in Orońsko, was one of his dreams that is just coming true.

The monument, similar to the Westerplatte memorial, was erected in 1976–1979 to commemorate the inhabitants of the Kielce region who fought during the partitions and World War II, and was unveiled on 22 July 1979. The author of the project was Stefan Maj – a well-known sculptor from Kielce, long-time professor of the secondary school of art, and author of many monuments. Originally, the façade of the monument bore the inscription: “To the Fighters for National and Social Liberation”, while the back read: “Combat was a duty, living in peace is a right”. Currently, the sculpture is devoid of any inscriptions or emblems.

The monumental sculpture stands on the central hill of the former Kadzielnia quarry, near the amphitheatre currently located there. It can be accessed from Al. Legionów by an alley with stairs. This architectural and sculptural composition, carved in sandstone from Szydłowiec, is about 12 m tall. In the base of the monument shaft, stylised, carved heads that symbolise the fallen can be seen. In the upper part of the monument, the author placed a scytheman in a four-cornered cap, a worker, and a Polish Army soldier, as well as an eagle and a Grunwald cross. Above are bas-relief profiles of a woman, a Polish and a Soviet soldier, and an eagle.

Between March and April 2018, the city of Kielce made several changes to the monument. The texts on both sides and the nearby inscription plate, the shield with swords – the symbol of the “Grunwald Cross” decoration, along with the stars on helmets and caps in the upper part of the object were all removed following the guidelines of the decommunisation act.

Jerzy Piątek was born in 1946 in Pińczów. He has been living in Kielce since the age of 7. He discovered photography at primary school, during the activities at the Youth’s Culture House. Member of the Świętokrzyskie Towarzystwo Fotograficzne (Świętokrzyskie Photographic Society), co-founder of the Kontrast photoclub, member of Grupa 10×10. He obtained the title of photographer artist (ZPAF - ) in 1978. President of its Świętokrzyski regional division for one term. He is a representative of the Kielce School of Landscape. Participant in many solo and collective exhibitions in Poland and abroad, accompanied by catalogues, including „Załuchiw. Brzegi dzieciństwa – wieś na Ukrainie” (Zalukhiv. The shores of childhood – a village in Ukraine, 2015), „Nadnidziańskie parki krajobrazowe” “(Nida River Landscape Parks, 2015), „Akt fotografia nieartystyczna” (Nude non-art photographs, 2023). Jerzy Piątek’s photographs can be found in national museums in Wrocław, Warsaw, and Kielce, at the Museum of the History of Photography in Kraków as well as other cultural centres.

In addition to landscapes – e.g., exhibition and album „Ostatni taki pejzaż” (The Last Such Landscape, 2012), he photographed small towns in the Kielce region – exhibition and album „Smutek i urok prowincji” (Sadness and Charm of the Province”, 2007). Author and co-author of many albums. As a publisher (ARW Fine-Grain), he led to the publication of studies important for the history of Polish artistic photography, such as: „Mistrzowie polskiego pejzażu” (Masters of Polish Landscape – 2001), „Kielecka Szkoła Krajobrazu” (Kielce School of Landscape, 2002), ), „Akt w polskiej fotografii” (Nude in Polish Photography, 2013), „PRL to jest/było to” (Polish People’s Republic is/was it, 2021).

Publisher and co-publisher responsible for the layout and print of many monographic and collective publications for institutions including the National Museum in Wrocław, Kielce, and Gdańsk, the Museum of Photography in Krakow, regional museums (Wieluń, Radomsko, Częstochowa), BWA in Kielce, Ostrowiec, and others. He compiled albums and catalogues for such artists as Duda-Gracz, Siudmak, Sętowski, Żechowski, Pastwa, Tomaszewski, Konopka, Dróżdż, and many others.

In 2018, at the invitation of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, he took part in the exhibition “Signs of Freedom”, organised at the Royal Castle in Warsaw on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Poland’s regained independence. The artist’s contemporary works, in huge enlargements, were hung next to masterpieces of Polish painting for a few months.

Jerzy Piątek still photographs, he is planning an exhibition and a publication entitled “Regarding the cross” (the cross in all possible versions) and “Sinusoid” (a collection of photos of a dozen or so authors, presenting the cult plot with a characteristic shape, loved by photographers and located in the heart of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains).