I was in Krynica in 2005 and visited the Nikifor Art Museum. His art was
delightful--reminded me of Gandma Moses--primitive, detailed and colorful.
I wonder if modern authorities would refuse to honor Van Gogh because he
dressed shabbily, cut off his ear and had mental issues?

Gloria

On Sun, Feb 12, 2012 at 6:49 PM, lemkoresearcher <lemkohistory@...>wrote:

> **
>
>
> In posting this, it does not imply anything about the current Polish
> nation at large. In every society, there are elements of ignorance and
> bigotry. This is just an example of the bigotry that still exists against
> the Lemko minority in Poland.
>
> For those of you who don't know, Nikifor Drovniak (aka Nikifor Krynytsky)
> was a primitive artist who was born with birth defects and became quite
> famous after his death in the late 1960's. He has become quite beloved in
> both the Rusyn-oriented Lemko community and the Ukrainian-oriented Lemko
> community as well. There is a museum devoted to Nikifor in Krynica, Poland
> in the Western Lemko region. For Lemkos, he is a symbol of perseverance
> against adversity.
>
> Apparently, there is a train which connects Krakow to Krynica (where
> Nikifor lived and painted until the deportations of Akcja Wisla, when he
> was also deported to W. Poland but kept returning), and the commission
> overseeing the development of this train is looking for a name for this
> train. When the name "Nikifor" was brought up as a possible name,
> Councilman Marian Ryba declared his viewpoint on the matter:
>
> "I remember Nikifor, who died in 1968. He was ragged, impaired, and ended
> up in an antituberculous sanatorium. He was a very tragic figure.
> Meanwhile, Krynica has to be associated with relaxation and fun. We have
> great historical figures, who could be a much better showcase of Krynica,
> such as Kiepura. Do not let us end up being represented by Nikifor." He
> then added, "Nikifor was Rusin, a Lemko...and residents are disgusted that
> Krynica will promote the character of a national minority ...".
>
> So let's think about this. Krynica, as much as Mr. Ryba would probably
> like to ignore it, was a place where Greek Catholics (that is Lemkos)
> outnumbered Poles about 6 to 1 during the late 1800's, and until Akcja
> Wisla, Krynica was a "Lemko" town. (As you know, Akcja Wisla was the 1947
> Polish-communist led ethnic cleansing operation, a reprehensible war crime
> against a civilian minority.)
>
> Sad that this type of thinking lives on in Poland, especially when one
> considers that the Polish nation has rendered very little reparation to
> Akcja Wisla victims and their descendants. Perhaps the least that Polish
> representatives can do is to respect the memory of the minority that was
> vanquished. It's not all together different than the way that Americans pay
> tribute to the Native American heritage and history in the United States.
> Showing respect is way to to be civilized in the present, when one group
> has acted in an uncivilized way in the past.
>
> Although many in this forum may not be able to read it, below is the link
> for the news article in Polish.
>
> Courtesy of Richard Trojanowski via The Lemko Project
>
> http://sadeczanin.info/aktualnosci/art/30836
>
>
>


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