Poster for Norblin exhibition
Story by Nick Hodge
The Indian prince joined Minister of Culture Bogdan Zdrojewski at the opening of the exhibition dedicated to the work of Stefan Norblin (1892-1952), which saw the artist's only son, an acclaimed musician in the US, set foot in Poland for the first time.
Echoing the fate of so many Poles, the trials of war had taken the Norblin family to foreign shores.
Stefan Norblin's fantastic career spanned four continents, taking in commissions for Indian and Middle Eastern royalty, as well as a panoply of Poland's pre-war elite.
Escaping Poland as the Nazi bombs fell, Norblin and his wife, the film star Lena Zelichowska, spent the majority of the war in India, where he completed a series of projects for Indian princes.
It was there that he fulfilled the grandest commission of his career, designing interiors and painting murals for the Umaid Bhawan palace in Jodphur, a vast art deco concoction built by Maharaja Umaid Singh.
It was the prince's grandson, Gaj Singh II, who attended Friday's opening, having lent a number of key works to the show.
Unjustly forgotten
Approaching fifty when World War II began, Norblin was already a well-established artist who had excelled in portraiture, book illustration as well as poster and costume design.
Curator Anna Szlazak told thenews.pl that “rediscovering Norblin has been an extraordinary adventure,” noting that the artist had been somewhat “unjustly forgotten.”
The Norblins had not been able to reconcile themselves to the communist takeover of Poland, and both died tragically after settling in San Francisco.
“It's time that Stefan Norblin's star shines again,” said Caria Tomczykowska, president of the Polish Arts and Culture Foundation in San Francisco, which loaned a large portion of the exhibits to the current show.
“He's finally being recognised for the work that he did in India, and for the long career that he had in Poland before the war.”
Andrew Norblin, the artist's only son, told thenews.pl that coming to Poland this summer had been a moving experience:
“I always said that some day, my life would really be complete if I could go full circle, and I could go to India and see what my father had done… and come to Poland and see my parents' homeland, and to at least stand on the street where they were building their home.
“Now, with the exhibition, and the renewed interest in my father's work, it's really been the completion of the circle for me,” he said.
Stefan Norblin: A Master of Many Arts is showing at the Regional Museum in Stalowa Wola until 11 October, after which it will move to India.(pg)