Los Angeles-based comic book collector Glenn Bray fell into the hands of a book of Szukalski's drawings in 1971. He was fascinated by them and found out that the artist lived just a few miles from him. Bray contacted Szukalski and uncovered an amazing artist's career. The documentary Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Stanisław Szukalski (2018) features many clips of their meetings and provides an intimate look into the life of a forgotten art star.
Stanisław Szukalski (1893-1987) was born in Poland and emigrated to Chicago with his family in 1907. He studied sculpture there until 1913 and also for a time in Kraków, after which Szukalski's career quickly took off. His sculptures and paintings combine numerous modern art movements such as Cubism, Expressionism, and Futurism with elements of Art Nouveau and art of ancient Egyptian, Slavic, and Aztec cultures to create a unique stylistic language. Some figures in the art world even refer to Szukalski's style with its own term, »Bent Classicism«.
In the 1930s, Szukalski returned to his native Poland, where he was considered the country's greatest artist. In Warsaw, the Szukalski National Museum was eventually dedicated to him. Just a few years later, with the onset of World War II, Szukalski fled to the United States wounded. Almost all of his works were subsequently destroyed by German soldiers. Szukalski settled in Los Angeles, but his works there were no longer convincing in the face of changing artistic tastes. He also refused to give up his own style. Thus, Szukalski led a secluded life, occasionally working as a painter for Hollywood films.
The Netflix documentary was produced by Glenn Bray, his friend George DiCaprio and the latter's son Leonardo DiCaprio, both of whom also had contact with Szukalski until he died in 1987. In the interviews, Szukalski talks not only about his career, but also about his difficult life as a forgotten man who had been hailed as a genius just a few years earlier. In retrospect, Szukalski has been called the Michelangelo of the 20th century.
The film also addresses some of Szukalski's texts from the 1930s, which were only discovered by the film crew during filming. It seems that Szukalski formulates anti-Semitic views in them. While Bray is certain that this is due to the period in which the film was made and that Szukalski did not hold these views throughout his life, George DiCaprio regrets having been a friend of Szukalski. The documentary uncovers Szukalski's life and, for all its praise, doesn't forget to cover the negative sides as well − a look at a unique artist's career that is well worth seeing.
