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REVIEW:
The talent of Raymond A. Toloczko blazed like the bright yellow suns that
sometimes filled the skies of his paintings. And when he died, in 1972 at 46, he
left a legacy of vivid canvassed and intricate drawings that do what art does
best: take the imagination on a wild chase of daydreams, beauty, and – often
with Raymond – laughter.
He was at Yaddo, the
Saratoga Springs, NY, a nest of the famed in the creative arts. And at the
Chicago Art Institute. He painted in Venice, in Poland, and in Mexico, where he
went to completed a 15 x 40 foot mural and ended up falling in love with the
country and staying several years. He taught art a Loyola University, Chicago,
form 1968 until his death in 1972; His murals at Loyola University are in the
Union Hall and the Mullady Theater. His work received top awards, was sought by
both public and private collectors, and was a popular subject for news
interviews and discourses.
Toloczko’s work runs the
gamut of human happenings, existences and feelings. His early work in San
Miguel de Allende, Mexico, all brilliant color and sweeping stark line, brings a
feeling of Van Gogh. Complex scenes are executed in lavish color embroidered in
black. Then and later in colors were a his own, inks and yes mixed together
until he found the vibrant hues the lens of his imagination demanded.
Many of his painting reveal
a deep religious commitment. Several churches, particularly in the Chicago area,
commissioned murals and windows by Toloczko. Save for an occasional wayward
angel, he drew sacred art without joking. All else could fall victim to his
whimsy.
In Poland, he filled a sky
above elaborate old buildings with brilliant yellow sun. Copernicus holds what
appears to be a long window opener to it, as though adjusting it for the day.
He drew Chopin’s birthplace with great detail. Finely drawn lace curtains frame
an angel playing the piano. A lovely scene. But look again. The angel wears a
mask.
His wry wit put elephants
along with people in the Grand Hotel. And for “Paulina’s Masked Party,” he
chose two figures: a veiled lady holding a dog masked with pieces of
intricate-designed old lace.
Detail in drawing is the
mark – as much as glowing color – of a Toloczko. A castle roof will show every
shingle in minute exactness. But if you peek into the castle windows, you may
see hordes of tiny, naked people – usually pink – looking out at you.
CONTINUED>
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Raymond
Toloczko was born in Chicago on the 3rd of September
1925, on the city's west side. his mother was
born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and his father in Vilna,
Lithuania. |
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After
serving two and one half years in the U.S. Army Air Corps,
under the G.I. bill, he attended the DePaul University and
the school of the Chicago art institute, receiving his
B.A.E. in 1951. with traveling scholarships and grants he
studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting, Maine, and
the instituto Allende, San Miguel de Allende,
Guanajuato, Mexico. since that time, he has made many
trips to Mexico, living and working in that country for
some five years on the sales of his paintings. he has also
spent a year of travel in Europe, and made his studio
headquarters in Venice, where he painted for six months.
his exhibitions in Europe, Mexico and the United States
have been received very favorably by the critics. prizes
from the Chicago artist annuals of the Chicago Art
Institute include the Robert Jerkins memorial prize, the
Pauline Palmer award and the town and country prize. he
has won many prizes in the Polish Arts Club, and has
exhibited with various groups in many exhibitions.
Represented in the collections of: Rev. Fr. Richard J.
Douaire, Chicago; Rev. Fr. Arthur R Douaire, River Grove,
Illinois; Mr & Mrs. Garland Ellis, Ft. Worth, Texas; Dr &
Mrs. John Elmendorf, Mexico City; Miss Betty Kirk, New
York; Mrs. Lorenza Lazareni Story, California and Mexico;
Miss Margaret Dagenais, Mr. John D. Grossan Chicago; Mr & Mrs. Irving stone,
Beverly Hills, California; Mr. Henry gadbois, Houston,
Texas; Mr & Mrs. Len O’Connor, Winnetka, Illinois; the
Abbott Laboratories, Chicago Mr & Mrs. Joseph R. Shapiro,
Oak Park, Illinois; Dr. L.S. Robbins, Milwaukee; Mrs. A. A.
lindstrom, Milwaukee; & Mrs. C. Saskowski, Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, Mr. Phil Coleman, Winnetka, Illinois
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<REVIEW CONT:
He won many awards. One, from
the Kosciuszko Foundation, was for a watercolor sent on a tour of the United
States and the exhibited at the American Embassy in Poland. The painting
is the stylized “Angels Having a Picnic on a Polish Mountain Top.” These
angels do not eat any old thing, they dine on recognizable Polish culinary
specialties – mushrooms, cabbage, sausages and stuffed dumplings.
His Huge mural, “The
Phoenix” was exhibited by the prestigious Skowhegan School in Maine (to the art
world what Tanglewood is to the music world) at the New York World’s Fair.
Toloczko also had several shows at "Cliff Dwellers" sponsored by Joseph
Shapiro who wrote of him... "A lifetime of searching for beauty and hidden charm
around us. He found what he was seeking, again - again- and again...and his
discoveries enriched us al"
Art critics liked to write
about Toloczko, and his exhibits in Chicago were rich fare for reviewers in both
Chicago papers and Glossy Sunday supplements. Don J. Anderson in Chicago opined
that maybe Toloczko drew the sun so much “because its brilliance is a constant
magnet and challenge for him and his shocking palette of pigments.
Harold Haydon labeled him,
in one of numerous articles in the Chicago Sun-Times, as “an artist thoroughly
involved in his own style and esthetic hang-ups…an imaginative draughtsman with
a strong feeling for decorative effects.” He also saw him as a man “with
something to say. With the portrait of a man with a monkey on his head, (“Agony
in a Sunflower
Garden”) he is trying to tell us something.”
Frank Holland, also in the
Chicago Sun-Times, called his talent “stunning.”
Holland liked the Toloczko
touch that used black for an all-over sort of embroidery or for linear grids and
structures upon which to place his rich colors, such as in his “Acapulco At
Night.”
“In other canvasses, “he
wrote, “the artist departs from his blacks, as in ‘Mexico City at Night,’ with
confetti-like suggestions of glowing lights in yellows and picks arranged under
a dark heavy sky. Jean Bryan
People Editor
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This
Chagall-type stained glass wall. With its 76 dazzling slab
glass panels is the design of artist/parishioner
Raymond Toloczko, the window contains 6,000 hand-cut pieces.
Window in St. Cyprian Church River Grove, Illinois |
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Below:
From Exhibitions (Click any to enlarge) |
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