Editors, Translators, Reciters: The Women Who Endorsed the Avant-garde

grupa_literatek_i_publicystek_nac.jpg, default, A group of Polish women writers and publicists at the Belgrade railway station, visible: Zofia Nałkowska, press attaché of the Polish embassy Ksawery , Editors, Translators, Reciters: The Women Who Endorsed the Avant-garde

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We associate the literary avant-garde with male names, and we underestimate the role of women in shaping this movement in Poland. So let's take a look at the work of journalists, writers, translators and actresses who rooted and nurtured innovative models.

Rebellious commentators

Before Wat and Stern wrote their declaration in red and black letters on blue paper (the leaflet Yes ('Tak' from 1918 which inaugurated Polish futurism); before Jasieński, assisted by Młodożeniec and Czyżewski, was reciting poems in a Kraków tenement house (the Futurist Club 'Pod Katarynką' started its activity on March 13, 1920), Anna Limprechtówna wrote a critical analysis of Italian futurism. The article was published under the pseudonym Orsyd in January 1914 in the Warsaw fortnightly Echo Literacko-Artystyczne.

The writer, active in the Polish Women's Equality Union (Związek Równouprawnienia Kobiet Polskich), did not beat around the bush. Citing excerpts from Filippo Tommaso Marinetti's manifestos (translated by her), she criticized 'unjustified contempt for woman and family', 'exaggeration and brutal ruthlessness'. She presented the futurist as 'the enemy of books', 'a student of the machine', 'a predatory animal armed with instinct'. However, she saw a chance for a new direction, which – once it 'shakes off uncritical conceit and cleanses its program of ideological freaks' – can become ' the yeast of progress, the foundation of Italy's social and state power'.

Limprechtówna's voice was not the first commentary on Italian futurism, but one to remember due to its radical character. It was she who introduced Polish readers to Marinetti's aesthetic assumptions, not leaving his controversial views unanswered. In her assessment of the avant-garde movement, she preceded Żeromski and Tuwim, who in 1915 referred to Italian Futurism in their lectures. Besides, they were not the only ones – on 18 November 1919, Bronisława Rychter-Janowska gave a lecture at the 'House of the Artists (Dom Artystów)' in Kraków.

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Bronisława Rychter-Janowska on a ship during her journey to Asia Minor, 1931, photo: Ewa Podgórska/www.audiovis.nac.gov.pl (NAC)

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The content of Futurism in Italian painting (Futuryzm w malarstwie włoskim) has not survived. It's a pity, because judging by the author's biography, the lecture was probably just as interesting. Rychter-Janowska has been painting since she could hold a pencil in her hand, and her love for art was instilled in her by her brother (Gabriela Zapolska's second husband). In accordance with her mother's will, she graduated from a teacher's seminary, so she drew after school. Her brother's artistic success prompted her to move to Munich, where she studied under the guidance of portrait artists. She herself became famous for her landscapes, especially the views of Polish manor houses. Her sister-in-law infected her with the passion for theatre: Rychter-Janowska sewed costumes for Wyspiański's plays, prepared puppets for the Zielony Balonik cabaret, wrote several dramas and published them in the Kraków, Lviv and Vienna press. She looked for painting inspirations in Italy. She even enrolled in a painting course at the Instituto di Belle Arti. It was probably then that she became interested in innovative avant-garde art, which was the subject of her lecture, although she herself created in the spirit of realism.

(Un) faithful translators

While Limprechtówna translated only fragments of Marinetti's manifesto, Janina de Witt translated the whole thing. The original text of the father of Italian futurism was written in late 1908. At the beginning of the next year, it appeared in print as an introduction to The Blue Frogs, a volume of Cavacchioli's poetry. It had its world premiere in February 1909 – the precautionary Marinetti sent copies to many newspaper offices, thanks to which it was published in French in Le Figaro. In the same year, the manifesto was available to the Polish audience. First, it was translated by Ignacy Grabowski for Świat, two years later by Cezary Jellenta for Literatura i Sztuki, and in 1913, an anonymous translation was published in Przegląd Wileński. However, it was Janina de Witt's version from 1921 that was included in the Pantheon of Universal Literature (Panteon Literatury Światowej) devoted to Italian art.

The interpreter reportedly met Marinetti in person. She also polonized his other texts, incl. 'The little theatre of love. The drama of objects'. The play in Polish was published in 1919 in Zdrój in Poznań. The December issue was dedicated to Italian artists. De Witt also introduced the Polish reader to the dramatic works of Bruno Corra and Emilio Settimelli's To Victory, Umberto Boccioni's Genius and Culture and Paolo Buzzi's Parallelepiped.

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Filippo Marinetti during his visit to Poland, 1933, photo: www.audiovis.nac.gov.pl (NAC)

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Wanda Melcer also faced Marinetti's views. What prompted this now-forgotten reporter and writer of the interwar period, creating in a feminist spirit and fighting for equality – and according to some, striving for the hegemony of women over men – to translate into Polish an article by a man who preached contempt for women? Although they headed in the opposite direction, they used similar means of expression. They believed in creative freedom, affirmed sensuality, organicity and even ugliness. Sławomir Sobieraj, analyzing Melcer's poetry, concluded that the author

[...]was always in the whirlwind of changes, in an avant-garde that paved the way for new customs, took part in the formation of new social and cultural organizations, fought for the introduction of hitherto unknown rules of literary creativity.

This is also confirmed by Melcer's texts written on the margins of reflections on the works of the French avant-garde artists: 'People want great things again and undertake great tasks. Do you want to bridge Europe with America? Of course, nothing easier! Do you want to go to Mars? Please, the airplane is waiting, snorting with impatience. The times of easy skepticism and contented inaction are over. The prospects of infinite action have again opened before man.'

Thumbnail — Wanda Melcer, 1936, photo: Ewa Podgórska/www.audiovis.nac.gov.pl (NAC)

It was Marinetti who wrote about this inevitability of change in Italian Futurism translated by Melcer for the artistic avant-garde magazine Blok in 1921. The author of the article postulated, among other things, for the creation of art free from the influences of the past and foreignness, one original, deep, cheerful (this corresponds perfectly with the attempt to find pleasure in the text by the Polish writer). He pointed out that this metamorphosis had already taken place in Italian music and theatre, so it was time to move on to other fields of art. Melcer as a reporter could identify with Marinetti's words about the influence of 'futuristic free speech' on journalism, which gained a sharp and synthetic nature.

In turn, Anna Ludwika Czerny introduced Polish-speaking readers to the French poetic avant-garde. Born in Lviv, the Romanist, having concluded her studies, went to Paris to study painting. After returning in 1920, she started working as a teacher, journalist and translator. She published poetic and prose texts in Wiadomości Literackie and Skamander. In November 1925, her Anthology of New French Poetry (Antologia nowej liryki francuskiej) was published. Czerny selected and translated the best pieces from the repertoire of the Futurists, Cubists and Dadaists settled near the Seine, and combined everything with Marinetti's poem. She provided the collection with an extensive introduction, in which she described the main assumptions of the futurists regarding spelling and punctuation. An anthology reviewer in Wiadomości Literackie wrote: 'Mr. Czerny's translation is smooth, faithful, and careful.' There are many more Polish-French avant-garde associations, and we owe many of them to one peculiar editor.

A rebellious editor

She used many names. The world will remember her as Nadia Léger (the wife of a French artist), for Poles she will remain Wanda Chodasiewicz-Grabowska (wife of a Polish painter). In her Russian-Polish-French life, she played many roles: Strzemiński's student, Malevich's lover, Soviet liaison officer, communist, single mother, wife in a marriage of reason, painter's assistant, independent and unfulfilled artist, and committed curator. We will be interested in her as a teacher of the avant-garde, which she impersonated when she edited the French- Polish magazine L'Art Contemporain – Contemporary Art.

Apparently, Chodasiewicz-Grabowska became a publisher thanks to her father- in-law's money, which she was supposed to spend on fur. Yes, she bought a coat, but went for a rabbit one – she invested the remaining money in a periodical. She arranged the editorial office in her room in Paris, and invited Jan Brzękowski, who lived in the same boarding house, to cooperate. They divided the work: he dealt with the literary side, she – with the visual arts. Although she was the initiator and organizer (today we would call her a manager) of this niche, but respected interwar periodical, her role is underestimated by many critics. In the autumn of 1928, Brzękowski wrote in a letter to Przyboś:

[...] a modernist magazine is being created in Paris, edited by Ms. Grabowska, a painter, with the participation of Ozenfant. It will be released simultaneously in two languages: Polish and French.

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Nadia Léger and Pablo Picasso, 1963, Cannes, France, photo: Keystone- France/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

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The avant-garde 'baby' of the two editors had three issues. The first one was published in May 1929 and it was a birth with complications: Peiper and Witkacy did not send the commissioned texts, similarly, Strzemiński did not hand over his works, Wat was unresponsive to letters. Having stated that 'people from the country are lazy and difficult to move', Brzękowski wrote the article 'Kilométrage' himself, and asked French authors and theoreticians for the rest. The issue includes reproductions of Picasso, Ozenfant (later it was said that thanks to this, the Polish avant-garde became friends with purism), Henryk Stażewski, August Zamoyski, Wanda Wolska and the editor herself.

The release of the next issue was slowed down by Chodasiewicz-Grabowska's illness and financial problems. A year after its market debut, however, a newspaper appeared with: an advertisement for the newly established artistic group a.r., works by Hans Arp, a supporter of surrealism, illustrating Brzękowski's dissertation on the development of contemporary art, and works by Serge Charchoune (the editor will acquire one of his works for the International Collection of Modern Art of the a.r. group). L'Art Contemporain breathed its last in 1930. The literary editor assured Przyboś:

We will release an uncompromising issue, dedicated to pure plasticity, but mainly anti-geometric (Arp, Prampolini's last thing, Grabowska). In small prints as illustrations for my article [...] futurism, cubism, surrealism, neoplasticism, etc.

Artists living in Paris were delighted – Belgian painter Michel Seuphor called the magazine 'extraordinary' and considered its bilingualism 'unique' among interwar periodicals. Polish artists were discontented – Peiper pointed out its literary shortcomings, Strzemiński refused to cooperate. This however does not change the fact that Chodasiewicz-Grabowska's magazine treated the Polish artistic and literary avant-garde on an equal footing with its Western sister.

Unparalleled interpreters

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Theory is theory, but how has avant-garde creativity been adopted in practice? There do exist legends about 'poetrevenings' or 'poetroconcerts' of the interwar period. Let's move to Italy for a moment for a meeting with the father of futurism himself. The atmosphere of a May evening in 1914 was conveyed by Maria Sławińska, a columnist of Kłosy Ukrainskie. The journalist while staying in Florence reported:

A quarter of an hour before the lecture, the hall was so full that not only the ground floor and boxes were occupied, but also all the aisles; at the door to the hall – the whole police department. [...] At nine o'clock the speakers appeared in the hall [...]. Hellish screams and howls [...]. Marinetti gets a potato in the head as well as various other vegetables, oranges, eggs start flying onto the stage; flowers fall onto the stage from one of the boxes – red carnations and white chrysanthemums. At 10 o'clock to help the hoarse voices of the demonstrators, car sirens start playing in two boxes, bravely accompanying the lecturers until the end of the lecture, which lasted until midnight [...].

Polish literary and artistic performances may not have aroused such extreme emotions (although one of them ended with a fight – more on that in a moment), but they were equally spectacular. Professional actresses and dancers were hired, whose stage charisma turned ordinary recitation into a kind of performance. Helena Buczyńska became the star of such evenings, and her method of declamation was called 'word art’ ('słowoplastyka'). Even the muse of the Skamandrites, Anna Frenkiel, known as Maria Morska, turned to the futuristic side. Zofia Ordyńska was also an excellent interpreter of poetry. Jadwiga Migowa wrote about her performance in April 1920 in 'Goniec Krakówski':

Mr. Tytus Czyżewski's pieces were delivered by Mrs. Zofia Ordyńska with unparalleled expression, masterfully bringing out the right mood.

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A group of writers: Tadeusz Żeleński, Jadwiga Migowa, Stanisław Mróz, Tadeusz Skarszewski-Żuk in unspecified circumstances, 1933, photo: www.audiovis.nac.gov.pl (NAC)

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Such a compliment from a journalist known for her aversion to this type of ventures was an exception. Migowa participated in almost all avant-garde poetry evenings in Kraków (and even in away performances), so she felt free to criticize this or that. In a review published in Ilustrowany Kurier Codzienny of May 1922, she stated that Polish futurism was characterized by the ability to 'create new directions and groups', thus:

zonalism arises in Kraków [...], hereby we give you a sample of zonal poetry: »Chwastek praised Chwistek praised for a while / Chwastek grabbed Chwistka grabbed the whisk«. In addition to zonalism, there is firmism 00, winklerism, neo-Gophronism, and all of them are under the conglomeration of buffism, advertisingism and – idiotism!

Are you, ladies and gentlemen, familiar with the work 'Moskwa (Moscow)' by Stanisław Młodożeniec? It starts like this:

He-re- or-m the-re?

there-there THERE-

He-re there-there THERE-there-there-THERE

and so on. Kraków audience of the Słowacki Theatre had the opportunity to hear this on June 11, 1921. It was then that Irena Solska debuted as a declamator, whose talent was later appreciated by Jasieński and Wat, who dedicated their works to her. However, the audience gathered was divided. Emil Haecker, editor-in-chief of the socialist magazine Naprzód, reported:

Mrs. Solska succeeded only in one prank with which she tricked the audience: having announced that she would recite a futuristic poem entitled ‘Moscow’, repeated two words accompanied by tragic facial expressions for several minutes: there and here.

Leon Chwistek, a member of the avant-garde group Formists, had a completely different impression:

What Irena Solska made of this poem was a true masterpiece. The audience seemed to go crazy. Whistling and stomping also broke through the great applause. The listeners were fighting among themselves.

Translated from Polish by Michał Pelczar

_{Sources: A. Araszkiewicz, 'Feministyczna Atlantyda' [In:] 'Czas Kultury', nr 4, Poznań 2015; I. Boruszkowska, 'Akuszerki awangardy: kobiety a początki nowej sztuki' [In:] 'Pamiętnik Literacki', z.3, Wrocław 2019; K. Jaworski, 'Kronika polskiego futuryzmu', Kielce 2015; S. Sobieraj, 'Zapomniana poezja Wandy Melcer-Rutkowskiej' [In:] 'Conversatoria Litteraria. Międzynarodowy Rocznik Naukowy', t. XIII, Siedlce – Bánska Bystrica 2019; K. Zychowicz, 'Nadia konstruktorka', Kraków 2019.}

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