In my historical fiction book, a young Polish artist named Florian Durzynski immigrates by himself to the U.S. in 1929, but despite being embraced by Chicago’s Polish community and being hired by the Works Progress Administration to create murals for the Chicago public schools, Florian still searches for a home for his heart.
(still in the editing phase)
gail tanzer 
Dear Ms. Tanzer,
I am near completion of your book Graven Images while dreading it is coming to an end. This book is excellent!
I feel like a fly on the wall witnessing Augusta Savage’s life experiences as she lived them.
Thank you for this wonderful work honoring Augusta Savage!
John Broussard
I am so glad that you enjoyed Graven Images, my book about Augusta Savage. It is nice that you took the time to tell me that. If you would like to read about the subject of my newest book, Florian Durzynski, that is also available on Amazon. The name of the book is Not An Ordinary Artist. It will take you to life in Chicago from 1929-1949 and the art of a Polish immigrant who accomplished much but had his share of artistic and personal challenges.
I have recently discovered that Florian Durzynski was commissioned to paint a mural in Service Club No. 2 at Camp Fannin, an infantry training camp, near Tyler, Texas, in 1943. It was called “The Life of a Nation for Freedom.” Does your book include any information about this mural or his time in Texas? Thank you.
I am so sorry that I just saw your question.I have a full description of that mural on pp. 267-268. It was 30 feet high and 60 feet wide. It showed soldiers in all phases of training and combat fighting at the Guadacanal and the Battle of Tunisia. It also depicted women in the Women’s Army Corps and the Army Nurses Corps. Florian also created several panels depicting the Tyler courthouse, Texas oil wells and mimosa trees. Even though he was born and raised in Poland, Florian depicted more about American history than a lot of Americans knew. I am happy to see a fan of Florian Durzynski. If you feel like telling me how you became interested in his work, please feel free to do so. I promise I will have Word Press send me your comment. Thank you.
I’ve gotten back to working on an article on Florian Durzynski and the lost mural at Camp Fannin, Texas. It will be in our annual local history journal called Chronicles of Smith County, Texas, published by the Smith County Historical Society. I’m the editor.
I became interested in Durzynski when I found the article with a photo in the Tyler newspaper from 1943. That’s the only image we have, other than a photo of a general standing in front of it with only a little showing. We have no image of the completed work. It does not appear in the published history of Camp Fannin, and I’ve tried all over the National Archives without success. At that point I ordered your book from Amazon.
The National Archives search and your book did lead me to Durzynski’s mural at Little Rock. I’ve corresponded with the museum coordinator at Camp Robinson and sent him the NARA photo and a few articles from the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. He sent me a couple of current color photos and it shows parts of the mural in a different place that where it was originally. He thought it was by an artist named Joe Jones from St. Louis. I did more research, and they do have a 1940 mural by Jones but it’s of WWI scenes and Black Jack Pershing. Jones also did two other murals pre-war in Arkansas, one at a college and one at a post office. I just emailed the museum director to see if he’s come up with any more information on Durzynski and his mural and to see if he can retake the photos with better lighting. If not, I’ve got a friend who can “fix” photos and I’ll see what she can do.
This search also took me to a second Camp Robinson mural and a second Camp Fannin mural, both by George Tsutakawa, first generation Japanese-American. https://www.historylink.org/File/5426 and George Tsutakawa : Kingsbury, Martha, 1941- : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archivehttps://archive.org/details/georgetsutakawa00king/page/44/mode/2up but I have no images of those. Tsutakawa did do an oil painting of Camp Fannin that survives and it’s in the Kingsbury book and in other places. With this close tie between Camp Robinson and Camp Fannin, with the CR commander transferring to CF, he must have appreciated art and brought his artists with him. I don’t know if a subsequent commander painted over the murals or if the murals were casualties of the closing of Camp Fannin, and the buildings were moved or destroyed for components. I can’t track specifically where Service Club No. 2 went.
Anyway, that’s what and why I’m working on Florian Durzynski. If you can point me toward additional resources, particularly photos, I would greatly appreciate it.
Vicki Betts
Smith County Historical Society
Hi, I am consulting with Elliot Spiegel who helped with research for the book. I know Durzynski did a mural for Camp Robinson. I believe I have a picture of him with it. I will get back to you as soon as I can access it. I am out of town right now. I’m excited to work with you on information regarding Durzynski’s work. Gail