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Disputes on Polish National Art and Polish National Style in the Inter-War Period

100%

Chmielewska A.

Ikonotheka

2005

issue 18

71-86

The topic of the article are the debates regarding Polish national art and national style, which artists from the sphere of the Warsaw Academy of Fine Art (ASP) had with the broadly-defined avant-garde and the Kapists, and which took place in the years 1918-1939. This issue was an important one in the artistic discussions in Poland, one of many European national countries created after the WW I. The artistic circle which was focused round the ASP formulated a conception of national art and national style which dominated Polish official art of the entire period. These artists sought inspiration for their applied art and graphics mainly in patterns of folk art, although they did postulate to transform them in accordance with the requirements of modernity. In painting, however, they associated 'Polishness' with certain formal features which appeared naturally in the output of any artist who related to Polish natural scenery and culture. They stressed that national character is a paramount quality of art, and that it assures art's originality and attractiveness on the worldwide forum. The avant-garde artists and the Kapists, on the other hand, maintained that the task of art is to introduce universal values and to modernise the country. For the avant-garde, a national style which referred to folk art was a tool for those who would hinder the civilisational development of the country. The Kapists accused the ASP circle of conservatism, nationalism and fear of foreign influence; in other words, of having a worldview current in the period of the Partitions, during which the main task of Polish art was to preserve national identity. One of important elements of this debate was the struggle over the 'Towarzystwo Szerzenia Sztuki Polskiej wsród Obcych' (Association for Propagation of Polish Art among Foreigners), which organised state-financed exhibitions of Polish art abroad. In accordance with the notions of the Warsaw ASP artists, it supported art which possessed a clearly national character. For the avant-garde artists and the Kapists, this signified that the Association stressed Polish exoticism and demonstrated that Polish art remained isolated from the contemporary European culture.

THE 1913 COMPETITION FOR THE JAN ZIZKA MONUMENT IN PRAGUE

100%

Pencak M.

Umění (Art)

2006

vol. 54

issue 1

69-84

In 1882, a society was formed with the goal of building a monument to Jan Zizka on top of Vítkov Hill in Prague. It was only in 1913, however, with the approaching 500th anniversary of the death of Jan Hus, that the society decided to announce a competition for the design of the monument. The competition was not preceded by any general intellectual discussion. As a result, the parameters of the task were undefined, requiring only that the proposed structure be monumental. The restricted budget imposed an important limit, raising the controversial question of the use of reinforced concrete as a cheap material. The intention was to build a monument that would be imposing from a great distance, as well as from close up; until then, no such work had been built in the Bohemian Lands. In the broader context, of course, the Zizka monument fit in with developments elsewhere in Europe, in particular Germany, where there was on ongoing debate about methods of building large monuments in the landscape. The special characteristics of the Zizka monument required the participation of architects. These included representatives of architectural cubism, which was at that time on the ascendant: Pavel Janák, Josef Gocár, Vlastislav Hofman and Vladimir Fultner. Because of their attempts to apply the cubist style in the architecture of monuments, the 1913 competition was later regarded as the most extensive presentation of the range of possibilities of that style. In addition to the radical designs based on an architectural concept, to which the sculptural element was entirely subordinate (Janák-Gutfreund), there were also designs that addressed the issue of balance between a cubist base and a more traditional sculpture (Fultner-Kofránek). Jan Kotera and the sculptor Jan Stursa also submitted a cubist design. In the end, almost sixty designs were submitted to the contest. In addition to the most eminent artists, a great many mediocre artists also participated. Their designs reflected a conventional concept of monuments; intellectually, they corresponded to the schematic, popularised depictions of the famous commander based on the works of the painters Mikolás Ales and Adolf Liebscher, and the writer Alois Jirásek. In the end, the competition jury did not choose a winner, awarding only three second and one third prize. The awards went to designs that were conceptually and formally very diverse, even at opposite ends of the spectrum. As a result, the jury did not come up with a fundamental unifying idea that could serve as the basis for a new competition. In accordance with the negative verdict of the jury, vehement criticism of the competition designs appeared in the specialist and non-specialist press. Aside from the mixed reaction to the cubist forms, the designers were more often reproached for imitating foreign, especially German, models and for failing to produce a kind of national artistic style.

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Disputes on Polish National Art and Polish National Style in the Inter-War Period

THE 1913 COMPETITION FOR THE JAN ZIZKA MONUMENT IN PRAGUE