The President Thomas Woodrow Wilson Monument. Ignacy Jan Paderewski’s Gift to the City of Poznań and its Artistic Implications

Abstract

27 February 1928 marked the announcement of the winning entry in a closed competition for a monument of US President Woodrow Wilson in Poznań, whose benefactor was Ignacy Jan Paderewski. Though the jury awarded first prize to the young sculptor Zofia Trzcińska-Kamińska, in the end, at Paderewski’s behest, the famous American sculptor Gutzon Borglum was commissioned to produce the monument. Its unveiling took place on 4 July 1931 in Woodrow Wilson Park in Poznań, in the absence of perhaps the most central figure to the entire undertaking – Paderewski himself. His visit, envisioned by the Sanation government as an opportunity to repair its image, was to be replete with jubilant tributes and meetings. Remaining today as artefacts of these festivities are a number of works of art: most notably an album of lithographs by Leon Wyczółkowski titled Impressions of Pomerania that was donated by the University of Poznań (in the NMW collection), a portfolio of works by artist members of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Art in Warsaw (in the NMW collection), and an album of photographs titled Woodrow Wilson Park in Poznań by Roman Ulatowski donated by the mayor of Poznań, Cyryl Ratajski (Central Archives of Modern Records). The essay tells the story of the competition, the development of the monument concept and the circumstances surrounding the selection of gifts received by the composer in connection with his planned visit to the country of his birth.