New Polish exhibit shows Victor Ashe's eclectic and expansive taste in art

Alexsander Wolos “Jezioro Sniardwy,” 13 x19 inches, pastel on paper. From the collection of Victor and Joan Ashe

Roch Urbaniak “Untitled,” 16 x 32 inches, oil on canvas, 2009. From the collection of Victor and Joan Ashe

Ask Victor Ashe how he selected the paintings, glass, sculpture and folk art he bought during his five years as America's ambassador to Poland, and he gives an art lover's answer.

"I bought what I liked," says the former Knoxville mayor.

And what Ashe liked includes a wide variety of pieces that make up the exhibit "Art of Poland, the Collection of Ambassador & Mrs. Victor Ashe," on display through April at the University of Tennessee Downtown Gallery, 106 S. Gay St.

"From the day we arrived and saw things, we were just struck by the quality, the creativity, the diversity," says Victor Ashe. "I mean, if this isn't a diverse collection, what is?"

The Holy Bible's Last Supper and Nativity are shown in carved wooden pieces painted in bright colors. Bronze and glass in deep green and black twist into a feminine form in a contemporary sculpture. Paintings' subjects range from clown-like characters twirling hula hoops to library shelves crammed with tiny, detailed books.

Other paintings depict landscapes and cityscapes. Some - like high school teacher Krzysztof Michalski's "Winter in Lublin" or well-known artist Edward Dwurnik's oils of Warsaw and Krakow - are uniquely Polish. But artist Aleksander Wolos' pastel landscape of a lake surrounded by mountains could pass for a scene in East Tennessee.

"I just liked something that was unique, something that was different, of quality, that excited your imagination, that you could see the workmanship," Ashe says.

Downtown Gallery Manager Mike Berry selected the 38 works from the Ashes' collection. What's on display is just some of what the couple acquired.

"We have more art than we have wall space. So we'll probably rotate things every six months," says Victor Ashe. "Frankly, we haven't unpacked it all yet."

Berry plucked some paintings from the walls of the Ashes' Kingston Pike residence. That's where he found a fantasy cityscape in which balloons raise a boat into the sky and mechanical gears form buildings. Another piece, a 4 1/2-foot-long glass and metal chameleon by the Polish Borowski glass family, hadn't been unpacked until Berry opened its crate.

One piece challenges description. Artist Magadena Kucharska painstakingly drew dozens if not hundreds of tiny white figures on black paper before overlaying the work with a large "T" of fused glass.

"The workmanship, the detail really attracted me," Ashe says. "I had never seen anything like this. I said, 'Joan, we need to get that.' "

The exhibit includes several pieces of the colorful, often fanciful glass pieces made by the Borowski Glass Studio. The glass was a favorite of the ambassador. "The artists I really liked, I tended to buy several things," he said.

The exhibit includes five paintings by Dwurnik, who is well known in Poland's contemporary art world. His city scenes on display show buildings, streets, bridges and vehicles of bright colors painted in broad, bold strokes. The artist added a figure in one painting that depicts Warsaw's landmark Royal Castle. Just outside the castle is a man in a business suit. It's Ashe.

"I was going to buy it, and he knew I was," says Ashe. "And he said, 'Well, do you want to be in this?' And I said, 'Sure, why not?' And lo and behold, he pulls out a brush and paints me in it."

As ambassador, Ashe visited 200 Polish cities. He estimates he bought art in 30 of them. During his travels, he'd stop to see artists in their homes or studios. "I always made it clear I wasn't there to buy, that I wanted to observe their work. But a lot of times I saw something that I really did like, and I did buy it."

Amy McRary may be reached at 865-342-6437.

© 2011, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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