An international conference, part of the POLSKA! YEAR in the UK (May 2009 - May 2010), organised by the School of History of Art, Film and Visual Media, Birkbeck, University of London, in partnership with Tate Britain, the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in Warsaw, the Polish Cultural Institute in London and the Institute of Art History, Jagiellonian University in Kraków
12-13 June 2009
School of History of Art, Film and Visual Media
Birkbeck, University of London
Over the last twenty years, in response to new challenges brought by the 1989 paradigm shift, the historical and geographical boundaries as well as the dominant narratives and hierarchies of Polish modernism have been radically redrawn. For a long time Poland’s modernism had been imagined through the prism of 19th century romantic-mythic Messianism, born of the loss of national sovereignty and the ensuing imperative to preserve the core values of the nation. The parade of great Polish masters became undistinguishable from the parade of rebels and martyrs.
Recent years have brought a major re-assessment of the landscape of Polish modernism and its interpretative strategies. Both frames of mind, the messianic lament and longing, as well as the pride in the modernist autonomy of art, have been problematised as underpinned by nationalism, patriarchal and masculinist ideologies, marginalising the contributions of women, Jews and other ethnic minorities. Moreover, the pre-eminence of Paris as the sole point of reference has been challenged by a new emphasis on other cultural centres, equally vital in the networks of Polish modernism, such as Vienna, Munich, Berlin and St Petersburg, as well as Stockholm, and last but not least, London and Glasgow. Even if Polish artists would rarely travel to Britain to study art, for many of them Pre-Raphaelitism, the radicalism of the Arts and Crafts movement, Aubrey Beardsley’s aestheticism, Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s art nouveau or, much later on, Henry Moore’s cyclopic bodies played a formative role. Likewise, recent Polish art history has been inspired by impulses coming from Britain and the US.
Keynote speakers:
- Zygmunt Bauman (University of Leeds, tbc)
- Steven Mansbach (University of Maryland)
- Agnieszka Morawińska (National Gallery of Art Zachęta, Warsaw)
Confirmed speakers:
Maria Poprzęcka (Warsaw University), Marek Bartelik (The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York), Anna Brzyski (University of Kentucky), Jan Cavanaugh (University of Oregon), Ella Chmielewska (University of Edinburgh), Krzysztof Cieszkowski (Tate Britain), David Crowley (Royal College of Arts, London), Stanisław Czekalski (The Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań), Tomasz Gryglewicz (Jagiellonian University, Kraków), Kris Van Heuckelom (Leuven University), Jeremy Howard (University of St Andrews), Maria Hussakowska (Jagiellonian University, Kraków), Agata Jakubowska (The Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań), Dominic Janes (Birkbeck College), Piotr Juszkiewicz (The Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań), Piotr Kopszak (The National Museum in Warsaw), Irena Kossowska (Institute of Art of the Polish Academy, Warsaw),Dorota Ostrowska (Birkbeck College), Alison Smith (Tate Britain), Joanna Sosnowska (Institute of Art of the Polish Academy, Warsaw), Andrzej Szczerski (Jagiellonian University), Ewa Toniak (Warsaw University), Anna Żakiewicz (The National Museum in Warsaw).
The conference accompanies the display of Polish symbolist painting in Tate Britain (14 March - 21 June 2009) which focuses on the relationship between Polish and British art ca 1900. The exhibition is co-curated by Dr Alison Smith (Tate), Dr Andrzej Szczerski (Jagiellonian University) and Dr Piotr Kopszak (National Museum in Warsaw). The conference presents an opportunity to revisit the debates on Polish modernism and to reflect on Polish modern discourses of rebellion and martyrdom within much wider spatial and chronological boundaries, reaching from the middle of the 19th century to the immediate post-1945 era. It offers a chance to assemble, in a cross-national and cross-disciplinary forum, renowned scholars from Poland, Britain and the US, whose provocative writings on modernism helped to rethink the image of Polish culture.
Conference organisers:
- Dr Kasia Murawska-Muthesius, Birkbeck, University of London
- Dr Andrzej Szczerski, Institute of Art History, Jagiellonian University, Kraków
The conference will be hosted by the School of History of Art, Film and Visual Media, Birkbeck, University of London.
Please note that the event is free, but BOOKING IS REQUIRED. For all inquiries and bookings contact Dr Kasia Murawska-Muthesius.
Click here to download the conference programme.
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Image: Tadeusz Kantor, La table à écrire, oil on canvas, 1982, private collection. Courtesy of Maria Stangret and Dorota Krakowska.
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