Clara Matynka High School Art Folio, continued: Costume

We continue our look through work related to a History of Art course from 1946. 

That black horizontal line, drawn about a third of the way up from the bottom of many of these drawings, makes a difference, doesn't it?  It sort of grounds the figure, instead of letting it float about. Is that the "horizon line?"

This amazes me.
The English fought a titanic struggle
against Napoleon, and for years
were under threat of invasion by the French,
yet all that time English ladies
followed the Paris fashions.
"Empire" refers to the
Napoleonic Empire. Yikes.

Check the Vivien Leigh hairdo on the figure.
Gone with the Wind premiered in Atlanta (!)
in December of 1939.
In 1946, no doubt,
the shock waves still reverberated
through popular culture.

I really like this dress,
although I am mystified by the panniers.
Or are they wearable bongo drums?
Either way, they are useful
and appealing.

Clara Matynka High School Art Folio, continued: Further Motifs

We continue our look through work related to a History of Art course from 1946.

Clara Matynka High School Art Folio, and Some Other Art News

  

Our CAMZ saved a couple of folios
from her art courses
at Kensington High School
in Buffalo, from which
she was a 1947 graduate.

This one contains a stack two inches high
of 12" x 9" drawings on heavy stock.
We never saw these but  once
during her lifetime;
all her work she kept up in the attic.

Pen-and-ink and watercolor.
Do you have some time?
We are just at the top of the stack.

The Greeks painted their
architectural detail
and the detail on their statuary.
We have to keep reminding ourselves
of that when what we see
is weathered stone scattered about.

Those three golden-brown things
are done in a shiny metallic paint.

Another art unveiling, in a different league, you might say, and on the other side of the planet, was recently in the news.  I put it up for my wallpaper:

Poland's great artist, Jan Matejko, is depicted in a bronze statue
just unveiled recently, as it happens, in the Square of the Old Town
of Krakow.  While photographing this bottle for the sake of the label,
I caught the wallpaper by dumb luck.

There, now you can see the photo properly.
Beard, Barbican, and all, it's from an article in "The News from Poland,"
mentioning the recent unveiling ceremony.

Gumption, Frugality, Family Feeling, and Fabulous Neckwear

We kick off the season of Thanksgiving with recipe study and a particular family photo.

"Grandpa Ludwig," Ludwig Zdrojewski, is pictured here with "Grandma Victoria," Victoria Zdrojewska, and their sixth son, Stanley, who was named after Ludwig's own uncle.

The elder Stanley Zdrojewski came to America in 1893, worked, saved, and paid the passage for Ludwig and Victoria and their first son, John Peter, in 1897. Thank you, Great-great-Grandfather Stanley.

Update: John Zdrojewski notes that "their second son, Francis, also made the nautical journey from Hamburg with them."

Thank you, John.

Letter from Hong Kong, 1959

"Thank you for your nice X'mas card we received last year. We understand that you are all kept very busy and have little tie to write. It is good to know that you are all well, having a new house and enjoying work and life in New York State.  We will be very grateful if you could send us some pictures of the family, the house or the city where you now live."

"Boris is still working with the Resettlement Department of the Hongkong Government and it is the 10th year since he joined the government service. He is also serving as one of the Deacons of the Emmanuel Church. There are about 3 1/2 millions people living in this colony coming from the mainland of China. About 1,000,000 are so called refugees like we are, leaving their homes after the Communist took over in 1949. We are longing for the day that we all can go back to our hometown, but for the time being we rather stay at Hong Kong. In Communist China people have not enough food to eat and yet they have to work 14 hours a day. People are living in an organisation called Communes which means "People's Common Society". Hundreds of people eat together, husband and wife meet once a week and the rest of the time they are seperated and live at barracks like soldiers. There is no such a thing called HOME which is so important to the Chinese Family life. Both the Catholic and Protestant churches are persecuted. People have no freedom at all. They are treated like machines and animals. We are lucky to stay at Hongkong where we still have freedom."

"Elsie is also busy with the housework and the taking care of our son David who is now 2 1/2 years old. It is learned that a new refugee relief act will soon come into force. We will then apply again for visa to enter the U.S.A. as immigrants. Our destination is unknown for the time being, probably Los Angeles, Calif., Pray God will guide our plans for the future. Hope you will pray for us too."

"Have you heard from Berent Friele at all? Is he in the States or South America? Where is Zarembo, is he still with the Army? Whenever you have time, please write us a few lines - if possible -."

"With much love."

"Yours sincerely,

Elsie and Boris M. CHU"

They exchanged Christmas cards for many years.  Dad and Mom told us kids merely that Boris Chu was "someone Daddy worked with in China."  That's it! That's all I know!

Was Boris Chu attached to the OSS with Dad?  If so, was he with ground forces or Staff? How did the couple get to Hong Kong, and when?  Did they make it to the U.S.? Do they have descendants in America, or in Hong Kong?  

Why did our parents not tell us all the details and make sure we understood their importance?  Were they simply trying to give us an idyllic childhood, untroubled by unpleasantness?  If so, could they not see that that is never a good idea?

Or were they simply trying to keep their own memories in check?  Eugene fought Tojo's soldiers hand-to-hand in southwest China.  All he said was, "There was a lot of running."  And then for years afterwards, many nights there was a lot of screaming through his nightmares.  Certainly I can understand a man wanting to keep those hatches battened down.  At the same time, I wonder if he ever had any competent advisor who might have helped him face his demons, as many "shell-shock" - now "PTSD" - veterans have done.  If he had no such advisor, he and Mom would have had to deal with this alone - as a great many people have done.

I can only tell you all one more thing.  Dad kept the leather shoulder-strap from his Army rifle.  He put that strap on a clothes hanger and kept it hung on one end of his clothes closet for the rest of his life.

Julie

"What's Cooking at Columbia - A Recipe Book," 1942: Followup

Last post, we had just pulled a spiral-bound recipe book out of one of the cartons and looked it over.  The first recipe in the book was striking.

General Eisenhower in North Africa

Along with the book was a crackly copy of the Thursday, January 13, 1949 Columbia Daily Spectator ("Founded 1877".)

Ambassador Koo received the Hamilton Medal at the dinner.
He was also served Eisenhower Vegetable Soup.

On Page Five we are assured that
"General Eisenhower's recipe
for "potage à la Eisenhower,"
served Tuesday night at the
Hamilton Award dinner, was
first published in "What's
Cooking at Columbia."  This
volume, a book of recipes comp-
piled by wives of the Columbia
faculty, is on sale at the Co-
lumbia University Bookstore."

So why did Columbia honor the Chinese Ambassador to the United States in January of 1949?  Let me get my coffee, and I'll just transcribe the story.

     "A China enslaved by 'militant Communism' would endanger free peoples throughout the world, Dr. V. K. Wellington Koo, Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. warned Tuesday night.  He spoke after receiving the 1949 Alexander Hamilton Medal from the College alumni association."

     "More than 400 alumni and guests attended the dinner honoring Dr. Koo, held in the Hotel Biltmore.  The speakers in addition to Dr. Koo were Frank S. Hogan, president of the alumni association, statesman John Foster Dulles, General Eisenhower, and Arthur U. Pope, head of the Asia Institute."

     "Sixty gallons of 'Vegetable Soup Eisenhower' were ladled out to the assembled guests, and the broth was hailed by some as the high spot on the menu."

     "Mr. Hogan made the presentation of the Hamilton Medal, after sketching the Chinese Ambassador's colorful undergraduate career at Columbia."

     "In his response, after warning that Asia is in 'far greater' peril than Europe of falling under Communist influence,  Dr. Koo injected a note of optimism.  'The leaders of international Communism are realists,' he said.  'In the face of the growing unity of free nations, the Communists may yet realize the futility of their own dream of world domination.'"

     "President Eisenhower praised the guest of honor as 'an apostle of peace,' and added, 'You are an undying, implacable foe to the idea that a despotic Communism can sweep over and enslave a people where we want (sic) to be free.'"

It's hard to believe that Eisenhower could ever possibly have produced an utterance so illogical and fatuous, not to mention ungrammatical.  The reporter must have been into the booze, or else just illogical and fatuous himself.  Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose, in this case magical thinking.  Of course they can; they'd done it before.

     "The dinner was picketed by 23 students who paraded in front of the 43d St.  entrance to the hotel, carrying placards and chanting, 'Stop the murder of Chinese students.'  They  distributed handbills identifying themselves as members of the International Students for a Free Far East, and the Committee for a Democratic Far Eastern Policy."

Eighteen months after this dinner party, North Korean forces invaded South Korea, with Soviet material support and, soon, Red Chinese participation in the ensuing war.

"What's Cooking at Columbia - A Recipe Book," 1942

In 1948 Eugene Zdrojewski matriculated at Columbia School of Optometry, having finished prerequisites at Canisius College in Buffalo, all on the G.I. Bill.

Here is the 1903 Columbia, as alma mater of her University,
 by Daniel Chester French.  That distinctly British finial on her staff
reflects the chartering of her University by George II.

An owl, ancient symbol of Athena's wisdom, is supposedly
hidden in her robes.  It appears to be missing;
in 2013 that does not surprise me.

Thus Gene and Clara as newlyweds lived apart much of the time, with Gene in a dorm in NYC and Clara at her parents' home in Buffalo and working in a local hardware store.  She would take the train to New York for visits, and on one such occasion they made this purchase:

So this Third Printing of 1948 retains much of the flavor of the 1942 original printing.  A recipe for "War Time Salad Dressing" calls for "soy bean oil," because that was all you could find, much of the time.

Pride of place is held by this vegetable soup recipe, numero uno in the book.  The instructions start off with a directive on when best to do this, and follow on with five paragraphs of orders on the making of meat broth.

A two-page recipe for vegetable soup?
Someone  is mighty particular
about details.

Page two, top: we attack the vegetables.

Execution of the plan, secret weapons, last-minute adjustments,
thinking outside the box, and his name on the project
as taking full responsibility.