Albañil polaco

Date: 1952

Medium: Unknown

Dimensions (cm.): Information to be added

Alternate titles: Unknown. This title supplied by the editors

Published edition: Unknown

Contemporary publication: Przekrój (weekly magazine published in Kraków) no. 397 (46/1952, November 16, 1952) , p. 10 

References: Information to be added

Commentary: This work, depicting a worker laying bricks for the construction of the enormous Warsaw housing project MDM (Marszałkowska Dzielnica Mieszkaniowa; Marszałkowska Residential District), is based on sketches Méndez made in 1952 during his second visit to Poland. The work hews to a socialist realist style as does the better known Polonia despierta, made at the same time. Together with Varsovia en reconstrucción from 1949, these works form bookends of Méndez’s experiences in Warsaw, with the city’s near-total destruction by the Nazis on one end and its revival under socialism on the other. (Peter Schneider)

Cataloging note: The editors thank Profesor Anna Kutaj-Markowska of the Uniwersytet Wrocławski for bringing this work to their attention.

Catalogue record number: 949