Alfons Karny (1901, Białystok – 1989, Warsaw), Portrait of Stanisław Noakowski, circa the 1970s

Biography
Polish sculptor. He created portraits of prominent Polish figures (Nicolaus Copernicus, Adam Mickiewicz, Józef Piłsudski) and foreign figures. His granite and bronze sculptures won gold medals at exhibitions in Paris and Brussels. In 1920, he enlisted in General Józef Haller’s army. In 1923, he settled in Warsaw. In 1924, he began his studies at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts under the guidance of Tadeusz Breyer. In 1925, Karny’s sculptures were presented at an exhibition of works by students of art academies as part of the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris. After graduating in 1930, the artist received a scholarship to travel to France, Germany, and Belgium. In 1939, Karny’s sculptures were exhibited in London and then in New York—from where they never returned due to the outbreak of World War II. In September 1939, during the bombing of Warsaw, the artist’s studio burned down along with his sculptures. After the war, Karny created works in the spirit of Polish Socialist Realism. However, his works from this period, though they addressed themes that were in demand at the time, did not stray far stylistically from the forms that had taken shape in the artist’s work during the 1930s. In 1949, he was assigned a studio in Warsaw on Wiejska Street. In 1960, the sculptor set up a summer studio in Gdańsk, where he traveled every year during the summer. In 1963, the first solo exhibition of Alfons Karny’s works took place—a traveling exhibition of his sculptures.