Alicja Wyszogrodzka, Instytut Wzornictwa Przemysłowego, decorative textile "Panny" / "Maidens", 1958, from the collection of MNW, photo: Michał Korta
This pioneering exhibition of some 180 objects - including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass and posters – from the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw features the most important examples of Polish Modernist design
Rarely seen in the West, the collection explores the significance of the objects of everyday use in shaping modernity and the modern Polish identity emerging during the post-war period. A whole range of applied arts of the period, including ceramics, glass, textiles, furniture, and other household objects, periodicals, photographs and films produce a broad picture of the aesthetics of the post-war period.
Apart from its focus on the purely aesthetic values of the objects presented in glass cases, the exhibition will attempt to survey the "social lives" of the works on display, namely the ways in which those objects were represented in periodicals and films promoting modern forms of life, and the ways in which they were used by real consumers in the private interiors of socialist Poland. These aspects of the exhibition are enhanced by a multimedia presentations of various features of the material culture of early communist Poland, with a range of film clips of the period.
The exhibition presents one of the most exciting periods of Polish design, occurring between the political thaw of 1955 and the social changes brought in 1968. Spanning just over 10 years, the period gave rise to an abundance of daring experiments that made a lasting impact on design for years to come.
It was the political thaw that led to a sudden, new embrace of Modernism. However, for the most eminent designers, such as Roman Modzelewski or Teresa Kruszewska, it did not mean resorting to an earlier mechanical constructivism, but rather a new art of organic forms, paralleling the work of Alvar Aalto or Charles and Ray Eames. After socialist realism, abstract painting was particularly attractive for artists and part of the viewers. Abstract art was identified with freedom. Design embraced this idiom as well, and patterns on ceramics often followed the aesthetic of art in formal and matter painting. Ceramic glazes of rich colours resemble paint thickly applied to canvas. The second half of the 1950s saw the production of a series of the most sophisticated chairs, such as those designed by Teresa Kruszewska, Maria Chomentowska and Jan Kurzątkowski.
Despite a wide interest in new synthetic materials, which were the result of scientific research, access to them was limited in Poland. Even so, several designers, such as Roman Modzelewski and Czesław Knothe, did produce pioneering furniture from synthetic fibres at the end of the 1950s. In furniture experiments, metal frames were filled with metal netting, nylon cord, straw or wicker. The end result could evoke more of a sculpture than a piece of furniture.
The works presented in the exhibition were derived from various centres, such as the Institute of Industrial Design in Warsaw, Art and Research Establishments of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, "Ład" Artists cooperative, the Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw, the Academy of Fine Arts in Sopot, and various producers in the industry (ceramics factory in Włocławek, Ćmielów and Pruszków and the furniture factory in Jasienica).
The exhibition in cooperation with Young Creative Poland, an initiative by Miśka Miller Lovegrove and Anna Pietrzyk-Simone aimed at promoting Polish design.
Exhibition opens February 3 at 18:00 and runs through April 17, 2011.
Curators: Anna Maga, Anna Frąckiewicz, Anna Demska
Exhibition design: Miśka Miller-Lovegrove with the cooperation of Małgorzata Benedek
Exhibition graphics: Rafał Benedek, Antonina Benedek / Mesmer Studio
National Museum in Warsaw
Aleje Jerozolimskie 3, 00-495 Warsaw
Director: dr Agnieszka Morawińska
tel. (+48 22) 621 10 31, 629 30 93
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www.mnw.art.pl
Source: www.mnw.art.pl