The work by Jan Szczepkowski, created in 1925 and exhibited that year at the International Exhibition in Paris, links geometric and cubistic forms with the craftsmanship of folk and sacral art following a uniquely Polish art déco style.
The display at the Polish Pavilion at the International Exhibition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts in Paris in 1925 caused quite the sensation. As one of the most frequently described and commonly praised exhibitions, it ranked second among all the displays The second prize, however, together with the 1st - won by the Czech Republic - confirmed the presence of the post-Versailles countries not in the state hall, but in the salons of the European art. It was undeniably a triumph for the young Polish state.
The Parisian Exhibition in 1925 passed into history as a focal point in the applied arts of the interwar period. It marked the climax for art déco development thanks to both highly sophisticated exhibitions of the Parisian masters and foreign pavilions presenting a new but equally creative approach to that style throughout Europe. The exhibition also set the possibility limits for such a fashion and at the same time marked the beginning of its decline since it brought as many over-the-top and cliché exhibits as successful ones. The event also marked the beginning of a new trend of avant-garde art as it was shown on such a considerable scale for the first time. From the current perspective, the key points of the exhibition turned out to be: Le Corbusier’s L’Esprit Noveau pavilion, then considered scandalous, and Mielnikov’s constructivist pavilion representing the Soviet Union, not the achievements of Paul Poiret, Pavel Janak or Zofia and Karol Stryjeński.
The Nativity Shrine did not return to Poland, but was purchased by a church in Dourges in France close to the border with Belgium (a replica of the altar and the reliefs depicting a chorus of angels are part of the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw). This work became one of the symbols of the Polish exhibition. An image related to the Parisian exhibition of 1925 that comes to mind of any enthusiast of Polish art is a soaring pavilion designed by Józef Czajkowski - a mix of a gothic chapel and Chinese pagoda, in the centre of which stood the Nativity Shrine surrounded by walls colourfully decorated with Zofia Stryjeńska’s panneaux (representing quasi-folk style, in fact a synthesis of various folk traditions from all over the world).
The pavilion was not the only space where Polish art was presented. There were also rooms on the first floor of Grand Palais and the gallery at the Invalides Palace. The pavilion located near the Alexander III Bridge, whose main part was the octagonal room with Stryjeńska’s panneaux preceded by an atrium with Henryk Kuna’s sculpture Rytm / Rhythm and Wojciech Jastrzębowski’s sgrafitto, also featured a salon of the Kraków Workshops and Józef Mehoffer’s stained glass windows displayed in side rooms. The main space at the Grand Palais was devoted to naïve art: folk art, works by students of industrial schools as well as Kraków-style nativity scene cribs. Whereas the exhibition at the Invalides Palace consisted of a collection of kilims and three closed spaces featuring: a dinning room designed by Jastrzębowski, a studio by Mieczysław Kotarbiński and the Nativity Shrine.
Szczepkowski’s piece consisted of not only the altar itself but also the entire interior. It was made of quoined ornamented horizontal beams shaped into a narrowing crossbeam. Showing the state of the art folk architecture, this unique rainbow-like arch was supported by two pillars with carved reliefs featuring scenes of the Magi and shepherds visiting Jesus. Its corners were decorated with the already mentioned reliefs with angels playing double bass, pipes and violin. Thus, the representation was a tribute made to folk tradition and a display of the contemporary design. Equally unique was the combination of a woodcarving tradition and 'high' sculpting art of the altar. Following the rule of 'faithfulness to the material' dominant since the beginning of the 20th century, the sculptor took the best of the original features of the material and as a result the visual effect is achieved through not only wood carving but tree rings and the texture of the waxed pinewood as well. While in line with the artist’s intentions, the deep relief was used for chiaroscuro effect.
The success in Paris opened the gates to a professional career in the arts for all its artists, in particular Szczepkowski who wasn’t yet such a well-known artists (at least in Poland) as Jastrzębowski or Stryjeńska. Although he made his debut as a sculptor in the first decade of the century, it wasn’t until 1925 that Szczepkowski found his artistic expression. Before that critical year, he had remained one of the numerous talented graduates of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, a versatile artist lacking a unique style. He was mostly recognised for his ceramic projects completed several years before starting an affair with Art Nouveau.
The curators and originators of the Polish exhibition – art critics Jerzy Warchałowski and Mieczysław Treter – invited Szczepkowski to participate in the International Exhibition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts Exhibition mostly with regard to his teaching practice at the Wood Industry School in Zakopane, which again merged traditional folk craftsmanship with the mainstream of Polish art. Following his triumph in Paris, the sculptor, as well as the other artists, received many commissions from the government. Szczepkowski cooperated in designing the ornamentation of the building of the Sejm, Lower Chamber of the Polish Parliament, and the reliefs on the façade of the National Economy Bank drawing upon the stylistic pattern worked out while sculpting the Native Shrine.
It turned out, however, to be a one-off achievement in light of fact that the next attempt – the altar for the Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Echarlens, Switzerland from 1927 – failed to repeat the sculptor’s initial success. The other artists: Stryjeńska, Czajkowski or Jastrzębowski, also fell into an artistic routine. It is hard to say whether it was the adoption of the 'folk and form' variant of the national style into the hierarchic frames of the official art too soon that accounted for this formula’s loss of its carrying power, or is it simply that it reached the peak of its abilities at the exact moment of its greatest success. With regard to the latter, it was a mistake to base the official art on forms which no longer held potential. Although art déco in its Polish edition was still to perform the role of the official art of the II Republic of Poland, the Parisian exhibition proved to be a swan song of its artistic powers of which the work by Jan Szczepkowski is a brilliant reflection.
Author: Konrad Niciński, March 2011. Translated by Katarzyna Rozanska, December 2011
• Jan Szczepkowski
Kapliczka Bożego Narodzenia / Nativity Shrine
1925
pinewood, 116 x 114 cm
Replica in the Collection of the National Museum in Warsaw. Original piece is part of the altar at the Saint Stanislaus Church in Dourges, France.
