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Road leading to School of Fine Arts

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Sudden need for horse bits signals end of war
Andrzej Wajda Film-maker
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My desire to paint was unrelated to whether my work was more demanding or whether it lasted more or less hours. For example, when I found myself in Kraków working in my uncle's workshop, we worked long hours because each working day in a place like that lasted 10 hours. My uncle took an order from a German, but we knew that the war was slowly coming to an end because my uncle suddenly started getting orders for horse bits. This was for the army that I had seen entering in their cars and their tanks. Those motorcyclists in their green rubber coats, well, this was an army that conjured up visions probably of 'Star Wars' in young people's minds. Yet suddenly this army starts ordering horse bits; that already told us a lot. We made these horse bits very willingly because we knew that we would soon see them returning with this army from the east and that's what actually happened. From the moment when these bits began to be used to transport this retreating German army, I understood that I could return home to Radom. But why am I talking about this, because even after working a 10 hour day in that workshop, I still had the strength in the evenings and the desire on Sundays, because we didn't work on Sundays and Saturday was also a day of work, I would settle down to my painting. And I recall a whole string of works from that time which testify that my thoughts were elsewhere.

Chęć malowania była niezależna od tego, czy moja praca była cięższa i czy trwała więcej godzin, czy mniej. Na przykład w czasie, kiedy znalazłem się w Krakowie i pracowałem w warsztacie u mojego stryja, pracowaliśmy bardzo długo, dlatego że dziesięć godzin się wtedy pracowało w takim warsztacie. Stryj przyjął zamówienie niemieckie, ale widzieliśmy, że wojna już się powoli kończy, dlatego że stryj mój zaczął nagle... dostał zamówienie na wędzidła końskie. Więc dla tej armii, którą ja widziałem jak ona wkraczała tymi samochodami, czołgami, ci motocykliści ubrani w te zielone, takie gumowe płaszcze, no to była armia przypominająca w wyobraźni młodego człowieka pewnie Gwiezdne Wojny. I nagle okazuje się, że ta armia zamawia wędzidła do koni, to już nam dużo mówiło. Robiliśmy te wędzidła z wielką chęcią, bo wiedzieliśmy, że te wędzidła niedługo my zobaczymy jak one wracają, że tak powiem, razem z tą armią ze wschodu i tak się rzeczywiście stało. W momencie, kiedy już te wędzidła zaczęły być wykorzystywane do transportu tej cofającej się niemieckiej armii, ja już rozumiałem, że mogę wracać śmiało do Radomia, do mojego domu. Ale dlaczego o tym opowiadam? Bo nawet pracując po 10 godzin w tym warsztacie, wieczorami jeszcze miałem siłę, chęć w niedzielę, bo w niedzielę nie pracowaliśmy, sobota była też dniem pracy – zabierałem się do malowania. I pamiętam, że z tamtego okresu cały szereg prac, które mówią o tym, że myślami byłem jednak gdzie indziej.

Polish film director Andrzej Wajda (1926-2016) was a towering presence in Polish cinema for six decades. His films, showing the horror of the German occupation of Poland, won awards at Cannes and established his reputation as both story-teller and commentator on Poland's turbulent history. As well as his impressive career in TV and film, he also served on the national Senate from 1989-91.

Listeners: Jacek Petrycki

Cinematographer Jacek Petrycki was born in Poznań, Poland in 1948. He has worked extensively in Poland and throughout the world. His credits include, for Agniezka Holland, Provincial Actors (1979), Europe, Europe (1990), Shot in the Heart (2001) and Julie Walking Home (2002), for Krysztof Kieslowski numerous short films including Camera Buff (1980) and No End (1985). Other credits include Journey to the Sun (1998), directed by Jesim Ustaoglu, which won the Golden Camera 300 award at the International Film Camera Festival, Shooters (2000) and The Valley (1999), both directed by Dan Reed, Unforgiving (1993) and Betrayed (1995) by Clive Gordon both of which won the BAFTA for best factual photography. Jacek Petrycki is also a teacher and a filmmaker.

Tags: painting, workshop, uncle, horse bits, German army

Duration: 2 minutes, 13 seconds

Date story recorded: August 2003

Date story went live: 24 January 2008