Weiss, "Manifesto", 1950, oil on canvas, 190 x 136 cm, from the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw
The focus on Poland in Arnhem comes from the country's increasingly significant role in redefining European culture. MMKA curators have taken note of the strong presence of the youngest generation of Polish artists on the global scene and the way they have taken up the legacy of the Polish Avant Garde in creating a language of their very own in the present. The MMKA summer programme hosts three independent shows that look at three very different aspects of Polish art history of the mid-20th and early 21st centuries.
Forward! Figurative art and socialist realism in Poland 1945-1955 surveys how Polish artists worked within the confines of the ramifications set up by the Polish government after 1945. Disapproving of the popular global movements of cubism, surrealism and abstraction, the government insisted that artists create works of a realistic, national character, portraying subjects such as labourers at work, farmers in the field, builders reconstructing the city after the war and portraits of socialist heroes. Yet echoes of the dynamic styles dominating the art world abroad still manage to snake their way into these works, showing just how tricky it was for artists to express themselves creatively while adhering to the aesthetic norms set by the authorities. Works in the exhibition are on loan from the National Museum in Warsaw, presenting such works as Alfred Lenica's On the Construction Site (1946), which use the geometric forms made famous by the likes of Picasso and Braque and Wojciech Fangor's Characters (1950), depicting a burly couple with tools in hand standing beside a chic young woman from the city.
Among the artists presented: Xawery Dunikowski, Eugene Eibisch, Wojciech Fangor, Alexander Kobzdej, Helena Krajewska, Julius Krajewski, Alfred Lenica, Bronisław Wojciech Linke, Henry Stażewski, Władysław Strzemiński, Wojciech Weiss and Marek Włodarski.
Teresa Kruszewska, "scallop" plywood chair, 1956, from the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw
We Want to be Modern. Polish Design 1955-1968 is a presentation of Polish design from the prolific period of the 1950s and '60s. Relatively unknown in the west, Polish design of this period was incredibly creative, presenting new ways of designing and producing functional objects. These objects were innovative both in terms of form and pattern, building up the momentum of a modernist style that was nothing like the tea sets or dining room chairs that came before, inspired by the abstract art and organic shapes popular in the west. The objects in the show also come from the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw, which hosted the exhibition last year.
Among the designers presented: Roman Modzelewski, Teresa Kruszewska, Maria Chomentowska, Jan Kurzątkowski, Czesław Knothe.
The third show in the Poles Apart summer series is devoted to the work of one artist - Katarzyna Kozyra. Transgression presents selected video works that push the envelope of social norms and gender roles. Using a hidden camera she filmed naked women across a spectrum of ages at a public bathhouse (1997) and two years later she disguised herself as a boy and recorded naked men bathing at the Men's Bathhouse (1999). In Punishment and Crime (2002) Kozyra explores the fascination with weapons at gun clubs in a way that blurs the line between sport and violence. The triptych film The Boys (2001-2002) has naked boys dressed only in loincloth-like vagina.
Katarzyna Kozyra exposes the taboos that permeate society related to appearance, ritual, the body, death, deterioration and movement, singing them out for debate and discussion. Her methods are often controversial, yet she achieves her aim in getting people to get heated about the topics she covers. Her video work Rite of Spring (2002) was recently shown at the Museum Night in Paris in the garden of the Rodin Museum and she is currently working on her Casting project in cooperation with the Family Business Gallery in New York.
Forward! Polish Social Realism 1945-1955 and We Want To Be Modern. Polish Design 1955-1968 are on show between the 27th of May - 2nd of September 2012.
Transgression. Katarzyna Kozyra. Contemporary Polish Art is on show between the 3rd of June - 7th of October 2012. The artist is giving a talk at the opening on the 3rd of July at 1:00 pm. On the 2nd of June the museum hosts the All Star Quartet performing contemporary jazz.
For more information, see: www.mmkarnhem.nl
Editor: Agnieszka Le Nart
Source: MMKA