The collection of Polish contemporary art held at the District Museum in Torun is one of the most interesting in Poland. The exhibition POLSKA SZTUKA WSPOLCZESNA / CONTEMPORARY ART OF POLAND consists of multiple sections, including a display of paintings and prints of the second half of the 20th century from the Torun Museum, and a presentation of thirty works by Andrzej Wroblewski (1927-1957) deriving form a single private collection. One of the exhibition's primary aims is to demonstrate the importance of Andrzej Wroblewski's art as well as the degree to which it has influenced modern art in Poland.
The exhibition opens with a series of paintings by Jan Cybis, Zbigniew Pronaszko, Eugeniusz Eibisch, Piotr Potworowski, Artur Nacht-Samborski, Tymon Niesiolowski - all of whom were teachers at Polish art schools and significantly influenced post-war generations of Polish artists. Still lifes, landscapes, and portraits dominate this section of the presentation. Another section of the exhibit is devoted to artists linked to the Krakow Group and includes works by Maria Jarema, Jonasz Stern, Tadeusz Brzozowski, and Tadeusz Kantor. Structuralism, a current that sought to analyze the structure of the world through painting, is represented by the works of Aleksander Kobzdej and Bronislaw Kierzkowski. Wladyslaw Hasior, on the other hand, is an artist apart, someone impossible to classify according to any existing categories and an artist whose achievements are among the most interesting in contemporary European art. The "Wprost" group is represented by its founders, Maciej Bieniasz, Zbylut Grzywacz, Leszek Sobocki, and Jacek Waltos, who commented in their works on Polish realities of the 1960s and 1970s. Poland has also seen the emergence of a significant trend in metaphysical painting, which is illustrated here through the works of Zbigniew Makowski, Zdzislaw Beksinski, and Henryk Waniek. The section of the exhibit devoted to geometric abstraction provides viewers with an opportunity to view canvasses by Stefan Gierowski, Ryszard Winiarski, Jan Berdyszak, and Aleksandra Jachtoma. New figuration is represented in the Torun exhibition by the works of Janusz Przybylski, Antoni Falat, and Edward Dwurnik, while photo-realism is embodied in canvasses by Lukasz Korolkiewicz and Andrzej Sadowski. A separate part of the exhibit is devoted to prints. This section consists of works by Jerzy Panek, Jozef Gielniak, Halina Chrostowska, as well as a number of Torun-based artists, including Tymon Niesiolowski, Edmund Piotrowicz, Stanislaw Borysowski, Maria Wasowska, Barbara Narebska-Debska, and Edward Kuczynski.
An important part of the exhibit consists of gouaches, watercolors, monotypes, and drawings by Andrzej Wroblewski. All of these works derive from the "Pakoska" Collection, whose creator and owner, Antoni Michalak, believes the artist to have been one of the most important individualities in Polish art of the second half of the twentieth century. In the catalogue to the exhibition, Michalak argues in favor of new research aimed at explaining and interpreting the art of Andrzej Wroblewski, and poses many significant questions about the meaning and historical context of Wroblewski's exceptional output.
"Perhaps the time has come to look anew upon the paintings of Andrzej Wroblewski," writes Antoni Michalak. "The truth contained in his works imposes itself on viewers in an obvious manner. It is easy to understand that before 1989, expressing certain opinions was at times impossible, at other times even dangerous. Today, those who see his work ask themselves questions to which they will find no answers in existing publications. It would be a great benefit if the exhibition, the accompanying catalogue, and the suggestions at interpretation it contains motivated specialists in contemporary Polish art to attempt once more to honestly and deeply delve into the art of Andrzej Wroblewski."
Exhibition opening: December 19, 2003, at 5 p.m.