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THE “GALICIAN SHADOWS” SERIES WAS INSPIRED BY ROBERT KOENIG’S VISIT TO LWOW AND PRZEMYSLANY IN WESTERN UKRAINE IN MAY 2004 WHERE HE TOURED HIS SCULPTURE PROJECT “ODYSSEY”.

Each Galician Shadow drawing is a visual response to the sights of Lwow, an emotional response to the dramatic stories heard by the artist from people who experienced the War, the invasion of the Nazis and then the Soviets to this Polish city. Such witnesses were, amongst others, the de Zappe sisters who were descended from an officer in Napoleon’s army that marched on Moscow. During Napoleon’s retreat the officer turned south, married a Polish woman and settled in Galicia. (After WW2 Lwow became a Soviet state and is now part of an independent Ukraine).

The basis of this particular Galician Shadow drawing is a section of an ornamental iron railing in the compound of the Cathedral of St. Jura. The darkness of the bog oak dust used to make out the image depicts the dark shadow of a dramatic history of this city. The copper leaf celebrates the magnificence of the architecture of the city of Lwow. This city is an undiscovered jewel with so many buildings from every architectural period. Any admirer of Prague or Krakow should visit Lwow.

The bog oak dust used in “Galician Shadows” is thousands of years old. It came from timber that fell into marshland, sank slowly and was finally buried. Low ph levels in the water acted as a preservative, effectively preventing the wood from rotting. Depending on the conditions and the time under water, bog oak can attain a jet-black hue similar to ebony.

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