DECORATIVE PLATTER "LAJKONIK"

painting decoration by Helena Hussarska (1922-2009)
porcelain, mirror paints, gilding, diameter 32.5 cm, on the back signature : H. Hussarska.
Good state of preservation.

Helena Hussarska (1922-2009), sculptor and ceramicist. A graduate of the Faculty of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow, she has been involved with ceramics since her teenage years. She was the daughter of Stanislaw Burtan, owner of several ceramic factories, including porcelain factories in Ćmielów and Chodzież (in 1942-44 she designed the Harnaś figure for Ćmielów). In the 1950s, she set up her own ceramic studio on the grounds of her family home in Przegorzaly, Krakow. There, together with her husband Roman Husarski, she experimented with sculpture, ceramics and a proprietary decorative technique they developed called pyropyracture, which involves spraying liquid ceramic glaze onto a surface heated to a high temperature. Ceramic decorations using this technique perfectly complemented the aesthetics of modernist architecture. The most well-known works of the Husarsky duo are large-format ceramic compositions: Cities (mosaic inside the Cracovia Hotel), Riders and Runners (pyro-pictures on the façade of KS Korona), Pieta (pyro-picture for the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima in Tarnów), as well as the decoration of the Przegorzal Church of Christ the King. The Husarska couple also conducted educational workshops in ceramics, and together with their students, they were also involved in reconstruction work (restoration of tile stoves in the castle in Pieskowa Skała, restoration of modern Delft Dutch tiles from the Dutch Room in the Palace on the Water in Lazienki Park in Warsaw, destroyed during the war).
Hussar also created intimate forms, mainly decorative platters and plates, decorated with colorful geometric silhouettes of animals and abstract forms.