Mary Stanisia
Encyclopedia
Sister Maria Stanisia, S.S.N.D., (May 4, 1878 - January 28, 1967) was an American
Catholic
artist
and painter
. She was a member of the School Sisters of Notre Dame
.
family, in Chicago, Illinois, who later changed their family name to Kurk. She attended the parish school of St. Stanislaus Parish and there first began to paint at the age of eight, from which she graduated to the Academy of Our Lady, run by the School Sisters. Later, while still very young, her family sent her to Europe, where the noted Polish
painter Professor Thaddeus Zukotynski taught her the art of religious painting
, landscape painting, and sculpture
.
Upon her return from Europe in 1893, Monica began to act upon a long-held sense of calling and in 1896 entered the novitiate of the School Sisters, spending the next three years in training as a member of the religious congregation, at which time she took her religious name. Sister Mary Stanisia took her permanent religious vows
in March 1899 in Michigan City, Indiana
.
At this point, she was assigned to Our Lady of Lourdes Academy in Marinette, Wisconsin
, where she taught art to the students, while also giving private art lessons. She taught there until 1905, when she was assigned to St. Mary's Academy in Prairie du Chien in Wisconsin, where she spent the next two years.
.
Intent on learning more, she studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) from 1916 to 1919, which gave her one of the finest, though more conservative, educations in art in the country. There she studied portrait painting with Leopold Seyffert, mural painting with John Norton
, landscape painting with Frank Peyraud, sculpture with Albin Polasek
, and--a subject in which she excelled--academic figure painting with Wellington J. Reynolds
. She graduated from the School with a Bachelor of Fine Arts
degree and received an honorable mention for especially commendable work in life and portrait painting, a full-length portrait, Her Great Grandmother's Wedding Gown, which was used to illustrate the 1917-18 SAIC catalog. By the time she graduated from the SAIC, her style had changed dramatically from her European training.
In 1921, Sister Stanisia was commissioned to paint the central panel for an altarpiece
at the Basilica of St. Hyacinth
, possibly her earliest surviving large-scale work. The work followed a composition by Zukotynski, which also hangs in the basilica, offering a rare opportunity to compare the master with the student. She also did works for the Churches of St. Stanislaus Kostka and Holy Cross
in Chicago
, which are built in the so-called Polish Cathedral style
.
She also continued academic studies, in the meanwhile, receiving a Bachelor of Philosophy
from DePaul University
in 1922.
Her greatest success occurred in 1926 when she exhibited four canvases at the Eucharistic Congress held that year in Chicago. Aimed toward the revitalization and promotion of Catholic Eucharistic art
, the exhibition provided a specific and appreciative audience, and Sister Stanisia quickly attracted commissions. Between 1926 and 1930, she completed an estimated fifty murals, portraits, and devotional subjects, including a highly acclaimed Stations of the Cross
cycle (c. 1926) for St. Margaret of Scotland
Church on Chicago's South Side.
In 1929 she established the Department of Art at Mount Mary College
, an institution of her congregation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
, while continuing to direct the program in Chicago. She established the Art Guild of Chicago the following year, based at the Academy in Chicago.
Whether she was conscious of it or not, Stanisia seems to have been part of a growing consciousness in the United States of a purely American Catholic art, one that began to define its own set of parameters and iconography. One indication of the interest in art and specifically religious painting among women religious was the number of nuns who signed the Art Institute's ledger book for permission to take their easels into the galleries and copy paintings.
Some of her paintings are: Portrait
of Bishop John F. Noll
, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend
; St. Theresa; Sacred Heart of Jesus. In 1932, she was awarded a Silver Medal at the International Fair, Warsaw, Poland. The American Art Society commissioned her to paint a portrait
of Pope Pius XI
, which hung at the former Holy Family Academy in Chicago. In 1934, she also painted a portrait of Edward Kelly
, Mayor of Chicago, and in 1933 of Governor Horner of Illinois
.
Sister Mary Stanisia spent her last years in the Notre Dame Infirmary in Elm Grove, Wisconsin
, where she died in 1967. She is buried at the Sisters' cemetery there.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
and painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
. She was a member of the School Sisters of Notre Dame
School Sisters of Notre Dame
School Sisters of Notre Dame is a worldwide order of Roman Catholic nuns devoted to primary, secondary, and post-secondary education. Their life in mission centers on prayer, community life and ministry...
.
Early life
She was born Monica Kurkowski into a PolishPoles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
family, in Chicago, Illinois, who later changed their family name to Kurk. She attended the parish school of St. Stanislaus Parish and there first began to paint at the age of eight, from which she graduated to the Academy of Our Lady, run by the School Sisters. Later, while still very young, her family sent her to Europe, where the noted Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
painter Professor Thaddeus Zukotynski taught her the art of religious painting
Sacred art
Sacred art is imagery intended to uplift the mind to the spiritual. Sacred art involves the ritual and cultic practices and practical and operative aspects of the path of the spiritual realization within the bosom of the tradition in question....
, landscape painting, and sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
.
Upon her return from Europe in 1893, Monica began to act upon a long-held sense of calling and in 1896 entered the novitiate of the School Sisters, spending the next three years in training as a member of the religious congregation, at which time she took her religious name. Sister Mary Stanisia took her permanent religious vows
Religious vows
Religious vows are the public vows made by the members of religious communities pertaining to their conduct, practices and views.In the Buddhist tradition, in particular within the Mahayana and Vajrayana tradition, many different kinds of religious vows are taken by the lay community as well as by...
in March 1899 in Michigan City, Indiana
Michigan City, Indiana
Michigan City's origins date to 1830, when the land for the city was first purchased by Isaac C. Elston. Elston Middle School, formerly Elston High School, located at 317 Detroit St., is named after the founder....
.
At this point, she was assigned to Our Lady of Lourdes Academy in Marinette, Wisconsin
Marinette, Wisconsin
Marinette is a city in and the county seat of Marinette County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 11,749 at the 2000 census.Marinette is the principal city of the Marinette, WI–MI Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Marinette County, Wisconsin and Menominee...
, where she taught art to the students, while also giving private art lessons. She taught there until 1905, when she was assigned to St. Mary's Academy in Prairie du Chien in Wisconsin, where she spent the next two years.
A noted career
In 1907 Sister Stanisia was assigned to the Academy of Our Lady in Chicago, where she had began her high school studies, and it was here that her artistic career began to blossom. She set up her own art studio there, one large enough to accommodate the completion of murals, and established a Fine Arts program in the school, of which she was the Director. From 1915 to 1922she was the pupil of acclaimed portraitist Robert ClarksonRobert Clarkson
Robert Barnwell Clarkson was an American tax protester in South Carolina.-Early life:Clarkson graduated in 1969 from Clemson University with a bachelor of arts degree in economics. He served as a platoon leader in the Vietnam War...
.
Intent on learning more, she studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) from 1916 to 1919, which gave her one of the finest, though more conservative, educations in art in the country. There she studied portrait painting with Leopold Seyffert, mural painting with John Norton
John Norton
John Norton may refer to:*John Norton, 5th Baron Grantley , British peer and numismatist*John Norton , Victorian Gothic revivalist, remodelled Tyntesfield*John Norton , Olympic medalist...
, landscape painting with Frank Peyraud, sculpture with Albin Polasek
Albin Polasek
Albin Polasek was a Czech-American sculptor and educator. He created more than four hundred works during his career, two hundred of which are now displayed in the Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens in Winter Park, Florida.-Career:Born as Albín Polášek in Frenštát, Moravia , Polasek...
, and--a subject in which she excelled--academic figure painting with Wellington J. Reynolds
Wellington J. Reynolds
Wellington J. Reynolds was a well-known Chicago portrait painter and art instructor at the Art Institute of Chicago...
. She graduated from the School with a Bachelor of Fine Arts
Bachelor of Fine Arts
In the United States and Canada, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, usually abbreviated BFA, is the standard undergraduate degree for students seeking a professional education in the visual or performing arts. In some countries such a degree is called a Bachelor of Creative Arts or BCA...
degree and received an honorable mention for especially commendable work in life and portrait painting, a full-length portrait, Her Great Grandmother's Wedding Gown, which was used to illustrate the 1917-18 SAIC catalog. By the time she graduated from the SAIC, her style had changed dramatically from her European training.
In 1921, Sister Stanisia was commissioned to paint the central panel for an altarpiece
Altarpiece
An altarpiece is a picture or relief representing a religious subject and suspended in a frame behind the altar of a church. The altarpiece is often made up of two or more separate panels created using a technique known as panel painting. It is then called a diptych, triptych or polyptych for two,...
at the Basilica of St. Hyacinth
Basilica of St. Hyacinth
St. Hyacinth Basilica, formally the Basilica of St. Hyacinth, - historic church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, located in Chicago, Illinois....
, possibly her earliest surviving large-scale work. The work followed a composition by Zukotynski, which also hangs in the basilica, offering a rare opportunity to compare the master with the student. She also did works for the Churches of St. Stanislaus Kostka and Holy Cross
Holy Cross in Chicago
Holy Cross in Chicago, referred to in Lithuanian as Šv. Kryžiaus bažnyčia, is a historic church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago located in Chicago, Illinois...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, which are built in the so-called Polish Cathedral style
Polish Cathedral style
The Polish Cathedral architectural style is a North American genre of Catholic church architecture found throughout the Great Lakes and Middle Atlantic regions as well as in parts of New England...
.
She also continued academic studies, in the meanwhile, receiving a Bachelor of Philosophy
Bachelor of Philosophy
Bachelor of Philosophy is the title of an academic degree. The degree usually involves considerable research, either through a thesis or supervised research projects...
from DePaul University
DePaul University
DePaul University is a private institution of higher education and research in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th century French priest Saint Vincent de Paul...
in 1922.
Her greatest success occurred in 1926 when she exhibited four canvases at the Eucharistic Congress held that year in Chicago. Aimed toward the revitalization and promotion of Catholic Eucharistic art
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
, the exhibition provided a specific and appreciative audience, and Sister Stanisia quickly attracted commissions. Between 1926 and 1930, she completed an estimated fifty murals, portraits, and devotional subjects, including a highly acclaimed Stations of the Cross
Stations of the Cross
Stations of the Cross refers to the depiction of the final hours of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion. The tradition as chapel devotion began with St...
cycle (c. 1926) for St. Margaret of Scotland
Margaret of Scotland
Margaret of Scotland may refer to:*Arguably, one Queen Regnant of Scotland:**Margaret, Maid of Norway , Norwegian–Scottish princess*Two Scottish princesses who married into foreign royalty:...
Church on Chicago's South Side.
In 1929 she established the Department of Art at Mount Mary College
Mount Mary College
Mount Mary College is a Catholic women's college based on the liberal arts, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It offers bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, and bachelor of science in nursing in partnership with Columbia College of Nursing degrees in over 60 undergraduate majors, and master of arts,...
, an institution of her congregation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
, while continuing to direct the program in Chicago. She established the Art Guild of Chicago the following year, based at the Academy in Chicago.
Whether she was conscious of it or not, Stanisia seems to have been part of a growing consciousness in the United States of a purely American Catholic art, one that began to define its own set of parameters and iconography. One indication of the interest in art and specifically religious painting among women religious was the number of nuns who signed the Art Institute's ledger book for permission to take their easels into the galleries and copy paintings.
Some of her paintings are: Portrait
Portrait
thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...
of Bishop John F. Noll
John F. Noll
Most Rev. John Francis Noll was bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne, Indiana from 1925 until his death in 1956. He was a native of Fort Wayne, and one of nineteen children. John Noll attended St. Lawrence Seminary in Mt. Calvary, Wisconsin from 1888 to 1893. He was ordained a priest...
, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend
Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend
The Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend is a Roman Catholic diocese in north-central and northeastern Indiana. The Most Reverend Kevin C. Rhoades was appointed diocesan bishop by Pope Benedict XVI on November 14, 2009, and was installed on January 13, 2010...
; St. Theresa; Sacred Heart of Jesus. In 1932, she was awarded a Silver Medal at the International Fair, Warsaw, Poland. The American Art Society commissioned her to paint a portrait
Portrait
thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...
of Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, was Pope from 6 February 1922, and sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929 until his death on 10 February 1939...
, which hung at the former Holy Family Academy in Chicago. In 1934, she also painted a portrait of Edward Kelly
Edward Joseph Kelly
Edward Joseph Kelly served as chief engineer of the Chicago sanitary district in the 1920s, and later as mayor of Chicago, Illinois for the Democratic Party....
, Mayor of Chicago, and in 1933 of Governor Horner of Illinois
Henry Horner
Henry Horner was the 28th Governor of Illinois, serving from 1933 to 1940, when he died in office. Horner was the first Jewish governor of Illinois.- Political biography :...
.
Sister Mary Stanisia spent her last years in the Notre Dame Infirmary in Elm Grove, Wisconsin
Elm Grove, Wisconsin
Elm Grove is a village in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 6,249 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Elm Grove is located at ....
, where she died in 1967. She is buried at the Sisters' cemetery there.
See also
- Jozef MazurJozef MazurJozef C. Mazur was an Polish-American stained glass artist, painter and sculptor. His works can be found signed as Josef Mazur, Joseph Mazur, Joe Mazur, J. C. Mazur as well as a few others.-Life:...
- Polish Americans
- Polish Roman Catholic Union of AmericaPolish Roman Catholic Union of AmericaThe Polish Roman Catholic Union of America is the oldest Polish American organization in the United States. Its history spans notable periods in the development of the Polish American ethnic group, from the time of early settlement by immigrants from Poland through their development of ethnic...
- Polish Cathedral stylePolish Cathedral styleThe Polish Cathedral architectural style is a North American genre of Catholic church architecture found throughout the Great Lakes and Middle Atlantic regions as well as in parts of New England...
- Roman Catholicism in PolandRoman Catholicism in PolandEver since Poland officially adopted Latin Christianity in 966, the Catholic Church has played an important religious, cultural and political role in the country....
- Tadeusz ŻukotyńskiTadeusz ZukotynskiPolish count, professor, and painter Tadeusz Żukotyński was born in what is today the region of Podolia in Ukraine. One of Europe's foremost painters in religious subjects...
External links
- St. Margaret of Scotland Church, Chicago "The Stations of the Cross"http://www.stmargaretofscotland.com/stations.htm