SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - Two forgotten masters of the 20th century, whose art is drawn from private West Coast collections, will be featured in a new exhibition at the Robert V. Fullerton Art Museum at Cal State San Bernardino, Jan. 20 through March 14, 2007.

Polish-born sculptor Stanislav Szukalski and Chinese-born painter Teng Hiok Chiu couldn't be any more different in personality and their approaches to art.

Szukalski is expressive, restless, and provocative; Chiu peaceful, tranquil and happy. Szukalski is sharply symbolic; Chiu is gentle and reflective. Szukalski "walks toward the sun," Chiu follows the "path of the sun." Szukalski struggles with modernism - rejects it, discusses it, and, in the process, invents his own postmodernism; Chiu accepts modernism and successfully fuses it with Chinese tradition.

The exhibition at the Fullerton Art Museum attempts to revive the work of both artists by presenting some of their best achievements.

The two artists were born 10 years and thousands of miles apart from each other. For different reasons, they spent large parts of their lives outside their countries of birth - mostly in the United States .

But despite the differences, Szukalski and Chiu share common ground. Both visited some of the same places almost at the same time; received major artistic awards in Europe in the 1920s; were married to rich and influential women, whom they later divorced; and visited their countries of origin with significant artistic successes in the 1930s.

Szukalski divided his llife between Poland and the United States . His early sculptures, completed between 1910 and 1939, may have earned him a place among the greatest masters of the century. But he is as forgotten today as he was in 1954, when Ben Hecht wrote about him in "A Child of the Century."

Said Hecht, "His name is today unknown. His works are vanished. He is without public, without critics, as complete is the world's ignorance of him that he may as well never have existed."

In the case of Teng Hiok Chiu, he divided his life between the United States and Europe. From time to time he briefly visited China, traveling to many spots around the world, including Bali and Morocco. He began his artistic journey in the U.S. and England, and eventually circled back to the east. He went to China three times during the 1930s to exhibit his work, but the Chinese art tradition remained with him throughout his life. Influenced by the Western modernist tradition, his paintings ever reflect an Eastern inspiration.

An opening reception for the exhibit is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 20, from 5-7 p.m.

Stanislav Szukalski
Judas, 1912, bronze
Courtesy of Glenn Bray and Lena Zwalve

Stanislav Szukalski
Struggle, 1917, bronze
Courtesy of Glenn Bray and Lena Zwalve

Teng Hiok Chiu
New York, Central Park, 1939, oil on canvas
Courtesy of Kazimierz Z. Poznanski

Teng Hiok Chiu
Town, Vermont, circa 1954, oil on canvas
Courtesy of Kazimierz Z. Poznanski