Grocholska Anna (born 1931)

Anna Grocholska was born on September 1, 1931, in Falenty near Warsaw, as the fifth child of Adam Remigiusz Grocholski and Barbara from the Czetwertyński family. After her, four more children were born into the Grocholski family. Her father, a professional officer, was renowned for his bravery during the Nazi occupation (he commanded “Wachlarz” and was wounded during the Warsaw Uprising, among others). In his free time, he devoted himself to painting and created pen drawings with great talent. A.R. Grocholski died in 1965 at the age of 77. Her mother (who died in 1970 at the age of 70), endowed with great artistic talent, as evidenced by the beautiful watercolors she left behind, could not develop it, dedicating all her time and energy primarily to raising ten children.

Anna, after graduating in 1951 from the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception high school in Wałbrzych, began her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, initially in the studio of Prof. Stanisław Czajkowski, then in the sculpture studio of Prof. Franciszek Strynkiewicz. She obtained her diploma in 1957 and consciously decided to dedicate herself to sacred art. In 1958, she created a bas-relief (patinated plaster) “St. Anthony’s Sermon to the Fish” in St. Anthony’s Church in Pruszków, and in 1959, large bas-reliefs (stone – Brenna) in St. Martin’s Church in Warsaw, depicting St. Martin on horseback with a beggar and St. Martin the Bishop. In 1963-1964 (thanks to a scholarship she received), she stayed in France, where she visited Romanesque cathedrals and churches. From that time, Anna Grocholska’s master became Gistlebertus, a 12th-century sculptor, the author of all the sculptures in the Autun Cathedral. The artist attended lectures at the Paris Catholic Institute, including lectures by Fr. De Lubac, Fr. Chenu, and Liegere. She also belonged to the Cercle St. Jean founded by Fr. Jean Danielou. Father Danielou, a participant in the ongoing work of the Second Vatican Council at that time, systematically introduced and explained the council’s issues to the meeting participants. After returning to Poland, Anna Grocholska designed chapel interiors: the chapel of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński in Warsaw (Marsa Street), the chapel in the house of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception in Warsaw (Idzikowskiego Street, this chapel was later partially changed), and the underground chapel for the Redemptorists in Warsaw’s New Town. She also undertook conservation work (palaces in Radzyń and Lubartów, the former Camaldolese church in Bielany, Warsaw, the monument of the Virgin Mary in Prudnik). From 1977 to 1981, she executed the polychrome of the wooden church in Stara Miłosna, for which she received the Brother Albert Award in painting. From 1980 to 1983, she worked on the Stations of the Cross in St. Joseph’s Church in Kielce on Szydłówek (bas-reliefs in limestone). For this work, she received the Brother Albert Award in sculpture. From 1987 to 1989, she painted the Stations of the Cross in the motherhouse of the “gray” Ursulines in Pniewy. In 1985, she began work on the Stations of the Cross for the Congregation of Marian Fathers. The Stations of the Cross are located in Góra Kalwaria near Warsaw in a park near the Church of the Last Supper, where the founder of the Congregation, the Venerable Servant of God Stanisław Papczyński, is buried. Among the masters to whom she owes her intellectual and spiritual formation, Anna Grocholska lists her parents, the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception from the high school in Wałbrzych, and especially Fr. Antoni Marylski. Thanks to him, she was able to meet all the outstanding people of the Church in Poland and beyond.

Anna Grocholska lives in Warsaw.