BORN 1899 • DIED-
Zdzisław Nowak was born in Wrocław, Poland, to Jakub and Jozefa Nowak, Art History and English Literature professors at the University of Wrocław, respectively. In 1913, at the age of fourteen, the Nowaks relocated to Cornwall, England, where his parents each received tenure at the newly founded Falmouth University.
From an early age, young Zdzisław showed a remarkable aptitude for art, excelling in oil paintings in the style of his heroes Hieronymus Bosch and Francisco Goya. As academics, his parents naturally encouraged Nowak’s interests in the arts but were disturbed by his macabre and often disturbing choices of subject matter.
Running contrary to his fellow students — and perhaps the art world in general — Nowak also possessed great skill in physical activities, most notably boxing. In 1920, while enrolled at the Royal College of Art, Nowak successfully petitioned the Board of Deans to charter a boxing club.
After graduating with honors from the Royal College of Art in 1923, Nowak found himself adrift. Not enjoying the success he’d hoped for as a working artist, he made ends meet as a postal worker by day and semi-professional boxer by night. At no point, however, did he fully abandon his true passion.
In January of 1933, at the height of the Great Depression, Nowak answered a newspaper advertisement seeking brave and altruistic souls to accompany the Caduceus Foundation — a medical aid organization based in New York — to the jungles of Bolivia. It was there that Nowak’s life would change forever.
The Friends of Prospero
Peru: Episode VIII • Peru: Episode VII • Peru: Episode VI • Peru: Episode V • Peru: Episode IV • Peru: Episode III • Peru: Episode II • Peru: Episode I
The Two-Headed Serpent
Coming soon…
