Partner Miron Białoszewski, Husband Henk Proeme
Queer Places:
Plac Jana Henryka Dąbrowskiego 7, 00-057 Warszawa, Poland
Begraafplaats Groene Kerk
Oegstgeest, Oegstgeest Municipality, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
Leszek Soliński (October 1, 1926 – June 5, 2005) was an Polish art historian and painter.
The life partner of the poet Miron Białoszewski, his long-term (1958–1975) roommate in an apartment at Plac Jana Henryka Dąbrowskiego 7 in
Warsaw. He was, by virtue of the poet's will, the heir to the copyright to his work. By passion and profession he was a painter.
He was born in Żarnowiec in a peasant family in the vicinity of Maria Konopnicka's manor. The poet's daughter Zofia Mickiewiczowa also lived there until her death in 1956. After graduating from high school, he undertook Polish studies atthe Jagiellonian University in Krakow, where Kazimierz Wyka and Stanisław Pigoń taught at that time. After some time, however, he changed his direction to art history. The subject of his master's thesis was the Chapel of the Porcius in the Krosno parish church. He met Miron Białoszewski, then a novice poet working as a reporter for "Świat Młodych", at the beginning of the 1950s. Their acquaintance turned into intimacy, which developed during joint expeditions to the Bieszczady Mountains, the Low Beskids and the vicinity of Krosno. Soliński, as a homosexual and a person from the Lemko areas, was observed by the militia, and because he lived with Białoszewski without registering, this was used as a reason for harassment. Since Białoszewski did not deny his relationship with Soliński, he was removed from the editorial office. The materially difficult period for both of them resulted in intensive creative work. In 1958 they rented a common apartment at Dąbrowski Square, where Soliński dabbled in painting, and Białoszewski ran his "Teatr Osobny". Living together lasted for many years, despite the fact that their close relationship over time turned into a friendship. Soliński's artistic work is not widely known. It is known that he did a certain amount of work for the Franciscan Sisters from Laski and Piwna Street in Warsaw. He also received permission from Primate Wyszyński to copy the Jasna Góraimage of the Mother of God. A close friend of Soliński was the Dutch Slavic scholar from Leiden, Henk Proeme (born 1933, in Białoszewski's prose, in Rozkurz, mentioned as "Bear Dutchman"). Years later, when Soliński became seriously ill and infirm, Proeme took him to Oegstgeestin the Netherlands, where they married, which was made possible by the law of that country in force since 2001. He died there too. He was buried on 10 June 2005 in the cemetery at Groene Kerkje (Green Church).
My published books:
