The Polish Pavillion designed by Józef Czajkowski for the 1925 International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts in Paris. In the atrium, Rhythm, a sculpture by Henryk Kuna. From the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw Library archive, courtesy of the Zachęta National Art Gallery
The exhibition Art Everywhere. The Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw 1904–1944 constitutes the first such extensive presentation of the interweaving of art and design during the period of the Second Polish Republic
It is a large scale project of historical research conceived in a very contemporary way. The exhibition asks a question: is it possible to restore healthy relations between the world of art and that of industrial production, and if so how? Then, as now, voices criticizing the level and quality of the surroundings in which we live were widespread. The remedy to this situation was seen in the widespread introduction of good, original, Polish design projects. Examples of regions of a high level of material culture, such as Benelux or Scandinavia, demonstrate not only the possibility of the co-existence of "art and life", but also of the measurable effects of such an integration, the first of which is the raising of the level of consumer demands in relation to market offers.
A place where art was not divided between the "pure" and the "applied" was the Warsaw School of Fine Arts, which was founded in 1904 as a private school and, from 1923 onwards, functioned under the auspices of the newly reborn state. This institution was the direct antecedent of the current Academy of Fine Arts. In its founding documents, as well as in its first courses, the Warsaw School of Fine Arts devoted special attention to the applied arts, the teaching of which was to accompany the introduction of forms developed into production. This led to the Academy being something of an institute for experiments which played the role of a "showroom" — an unknown phenomenon in the artistic higher education of the time.
The first public showing of the School took it right to the internaionl level as it participated in the International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts
in Paris in 1925. The success of the show and the numerous awards garnered by its participants resulted in the founding of the Ład Artists Co-operative which, for many decades thereafter, became a synonym of good taste and quality in Polish design. Furthermore, in two groups were started up in the Academy’s graphic studios: the Ryt Association of Graphic Artists and the Commercial Graphic Artists Circle (KAGR), antecedents of the "Polish Schools" of graphic design, illustrations and posters. Similarly in the painting and sculpture studios, questions of purely artistic technique interweaved with projects developed for competition and concrete private or state commissions.
Projects and works which to this day remain present in the living urban space of Warsaw also mark their place in the exhibition: the Airmen Monument is a work from 1923, and the show also presents a project of contemporary significance, the Temple of Divine Providence which is still under construction in Warsaw's southern district of Wilanów. Architectural monuments are accompanied by various forms of advertising (posters, fliers, sign-posts and shop window decorations) as well as the works of numerous book illustrators. A very striking point in the exhibition is a reconstruction of the atrium of the Polish Pavilion, which was initially constructed for the Paris exhibition in 1925, as well as the presentation of select fragments of Polish Trans-Atlantic ferries' interiors.
The slogan Art Everywhere is thus one that is full of meaning. Today, as several decades ago, it is a call for a culture of everyday life — in our closest surroundings, in objects of everyday use, in public and private spaces. It is of concern for artists, but no less so one for ordinary people, the audience and users of their art.
curator: Maryla Sitkowska
curatorial co-operation: Agnieszka Szewczyk, Jola Gola
curatorial co-operation on the part of Zachęta: Joanna Kordjak
Honorary Patron of the Exhibition is President of the Republic of Poland, Bronisław Komorowski.
Organisers: The Academy of the Fine Arts in Warsaw, Zachęta National Gallery of Art
Exhibition organised in co-operation with the National Museum in Warsaw.
With the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
The project was realised through the financial support of the Warsaw City Council.
Exhibition partners: Teatr Wielki – Opera Narodowa, Państwowej Muzeum Etnograficzne w Warszawie, Mazowsze serce Polski, EIZO, Warimpex
Zachęta sponsors: Netia, Lidex
Media patronage: Gazeta Wyborcza, Polskie Radio, Wprost, TVP 2, TVP Kultura, TVP Warszawa, Art & Business, Arteon, Aspiracje, K MAG, PANI, The Warsaw Voice, Stolica, artinfo.pl, o.pl, culture.pl