Art in Poland refers to all forms of

visual art The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts ...

in or associated with

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

Nineteenth century

Polish art has often reflected European trends while maintaining its unique character. The

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

school of

history painting History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than any artistic style or specific period. History paintings depict a moment in a narrative story, most often (but not exclusively) Greek and Roman mythology and Bible ...

developed by

Jan Matejko Jan Alojzy Matejko (; also known as Jan Mateyko; 24 June 1838 – 1 November 1893) was a Poles, Polish painting, painter, a leading 19th-century exponent of history painting, known for depicting nodal events from Polish history. His works includ ...

produced monumental portrayals of significant events and customs throughout Polish history. He is referred to as the most famous Polish painter or even as the "national painter" of Poland. Stanisław Witkiewicz was an ardent supporter of

Realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

in Polish art, its main representative being Jozef Chełmoński. The Młoda Polska (

Young Poland Young Poland ( pl, Młoda Polska) was a modernist period in Polish visual arts, literature and music, covering roughly the years between 1890 and 1918. It was a result of strong aesthetic opposition to the earlier ideas of Positivism. Young Pola ...

) movement witnessed the birth of modern Polish art and engaged in a great deal of formal experimentation led by

Jacek Malczewski Jacek Malczewski (; 15 July 1854 – 8 October 1929) was a Polish symbolist painter who is one of the most revered painters of Poland, associated with the patriotic Young Poland movement following a century of Partitions. He is regarded as the f ...

(

Symbolism Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: Arts * Symbolism (arts), a 19th-century movement rejecting Realism ** Symbolist movement in Romania, symbolist literature and visual arts in Romania during the late 19th and early 20th centuries ** Russian sy ...

Stanisław Wyspiański Stanisław Mateusz Ignacy Wyspiański (; 15 January 1869 – 28 November 1907) was a Polish playwright, painter and poet, as well as interior and furniture designer. A patriotic writer, he created a series of symbolic, national dramas within ...

Józef Mehoffer Józef Mehoffer (19 March 1869 – 8 July 1946) was a Polish painter and decorative artist, one of the leading artists of the Young Poland movement and one of the most revered Polish artists of his time. Life Mehoffer was born in Ropczyce, ...

, and a group of Polish

Impressionists Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

Twentieth century

Artists of the twentieth-century Avant-Garde represented various schools and life. The art of

Tadeusz Makowski Tadeusz Makowski (29 January 1882, Oświęcim - 1 November 1932, Paris) was a Polish painter who worked in France and was associated with the School of Paris. Biography From 1902 to 1906, he studied classical philology at the Jagiellonian Uni ...

was influenced by

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

; while

Władysław Strzemiński Władysław Strzemiński (21 November 1893 – 26 December 1952) was a Polish avant-garde painter of international renown. Life and work Strzemiński was born in Minsk to an ethnic Polish family. In 1914, he graduated from the Military School o ...

and

Henryk Stażewski Henryk Stażewski (pronounced: ; 9 January 1894 – 10 June 1988) was a Polish painter, writer, and visual artist. Stażewski's career spanned seven decades and he is considered a pivotal figure in the history of constructivism and geometric a ...

worked within the Constructivist idiom. Distinguished contemporary artists include

Roman Opałka Roman Opałka (27 August 1931 – 6 August 2011) was a French-born Polish painter, whose works are mostly associated with conceptual art. Opałka was born on 27 August 1931 in Abbeville-Saint-Lucien, France, to Polish parents. The family retu ...

Wilhelm Sasnal Wilhelm Sasnal (born December 29, 1972) is a Polish painter, photographer, poster artist, illustrator and filmmaker. Sasnal graduated in painting from the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków in 1999. He is considered ...

, Leon Tarasewicz,

Jerzy Nowosielski Jerzy Nowosielski (January 7, 1923 – February 21, 2011) was a Kraków-born Polish painter, graphic artist, scenographer, and illustrator. He was well known for his religious compositions ( wall paintings, iconostases, polychromies) in th ...

Wojciech Siudmak Wojciech Kazimierz "Wojtek" Siudmak (born 10 October 1942 in Wieluń) is a Polish painter, currently living in France. He was a student at Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. His works are often used as illustrations for science fiction and fantasy lit ...

Mirosław Bałka Miroslaw Balka (born 16 December 1958) is a Polish contemporary sculptor and video artist. Life and career Balka was born in Warsaw in 1958. He graduated from the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts in 1985.Katarzyna Kozyra and Zbigniew Wąsiel in the younger generation.

Tamara de Lempicka Tamara Łempicka (born Tamara Rosalia Gurwik-Górska; 16 May 1898 – 18 March 1980), better known as Tamara de Lempicka, was a Polish painter who spent her working life in France and the United States. She is best known for her polished Art D ...

was a Polish artist creating

Art Déco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

paintings. Józef Czajkowski was an artist of many forms, including painting, architecture, and furniture design. The most celebrated Polish sculptors include

Xawery Dunikowski Xawery Dunikowski (; 24 December 1875 – 26 January 1964) was a Polish sculptor and artist, notable for surviving Auschwitz concentration camp, and best known for his Neo-Romantic sculptures and Auschwitz-inspired art. Biography Dunikowski ...

Katarzyna Kobro Katarzyna Kobro (26 January 1898 – 21 February 1951) was a Polish avant-garde sculptor and a prominent representative of the Constructivist movement in Poland. A pioneer of innovative multi-dimensional abstract sculpture, she rejected Aes ...

Alina Szapocznikow Alina Szapocznikow (; May 16, 1926 – March 2, 1973) was a Polish sculptor and Holocaust survivor. She produced casts of her and her son's body. She worked mainly in bronze and stone and her provocative work recalled genres such as surrealism, nou ...

and

Magdalena Abakanowicz Marta Magdalena Abakanowicz-Kosmowska (20 June 1930 – 20 April 2017) was a Polish sculptor and fiber artist. She was known for her use of textiles as a sculptural medium and her outdoor installations. She is widely regarded as one of Poland ...

. Since the inter-war years, Polish art and documentary photography has enjoyed worldwide recognition. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in Poland only few famous artists like painters Andrzej Wróblewski, Bronisław Linke and film director

Andrzej Wajda Andrzej Witold Wajda (; 6 March 1926 – 9 October 2016) was a Polish film and theatre director. Recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme d'Or, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Honorary Golden Bear Awards, he was a prominent member of the ...

(recipient of an

Honorary Oscar The Academy Honorary Award – instituted in 1950 for the 23rd Academy Awards (previously called the Special Award, which was first presented at the 1st Academy Awards in 1929) – is given annually by the Board of Governors of the Academy of Mot ...

) commemorated the war's victims of the Nazi

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; pl, powstanie w getcie warszawskim; german: link=no, Aufstand im Warschauer Ghetto was the 1943 act of Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II to oppose Nazi Germany's ...

and

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occ ...

Kapists Kapists or KPists (Polish: ''Kapiści'', from KP, the Polish acronym for the Paris Committee), also known as the Colourists, were a group of Polish painters of the 1930s who dominated the Polish artistic landscape of the epoch. Contrary to Polish ...

(

Jan Cybis Jan Cybis (16 February 1897 - 13 December 1972) was a prominent Polish painter and art teacher. Biography Cybis was born in Fröbel (now Wróblin, Opole Voivodeship, Poland) and studied at the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, set ...

, Jan Szancenbach,

Artur Nacht-Samborski Artur is a cognate to the common male given name Arthur, meaning " bear-like," which is believed to possibly be descended from the Roman surname Artorius or the Celtic bear-goddess Artio or more probably from the Celtic word ''artos'' ("bear"). ...

Hanna Rudzka-Cybisowa Hanna Rudzka-Cybisowa (1897-1988) was a Polish artist and teacher. Biography Rudzka-Cybisowa was born on 27 June 1897 in Mława, Poland. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw where she was taught by . In 1923 Rudzka-Cybisowa becam ...

Andrzej Wróblewski Andrzej Wróblewski (15 June 1927 - 23 March 1957) was a Polish Figurative art, figurative painter who died in a mountaineering accident in 1957 when he was only 29. He is recognized by many as one of Poland's most prominent artists in the early p ...

Grupa Krakowska Grupa may refer to: * Grupa, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Grupa (german: Gruppe) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Dragacz, within Świecie County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. It lies approxima ...

(

Tadeusz Kantor Tadeusz Kantor (6 April 1915 – 8 December 1990) was a Polish painter, assemblage and Happenings artist, set designer and theatre director. Kantor is renowned for his revolutionary theatrical performances in Poland and abroad. Laureate of ...

Maria Jarema Maria Jarema (24 November 1908 – 1 November 1958) was a Polish painter, sculptor, scenographer and actress. Life and career She was born on 24 November 1908 in Staryi Sambir (Polish: ) in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria (currently Ukra ...

), individuals like Piotr Potworowski,

Władysław Hasior Władysław Hasior (Polish pronunciation: , May 14, 1928 – July 14, 1999) was one of the leading Polish contemporary sculptors connected with the Podhale region. He was also a painter and theatre set designer. Biography Władysław Hasior was ...

Ludwik Konarzewski (junior) Ludwik Konarzewski – junior (April 20, 1918 in Buzuluk – January 23, 1989 in Cieszyn) was a Polish painter, sculptor and teacher of fine arts who worked in Upper Silesia and Cieszyn Silesia. A square in Rydułtowy is named after him. Konarz ...

, Jerzy Duda-Gracz,

Zdzisław Beksiński Zdzisław Beksiński (; 24 February 192921 February 2005) was a Polish painter, photographer, and sculptor, specializing in the field of dystopian surrealism. Beksiński made his paintings and drawings in what he called either a Baroque or a Go ...

were some important Polish post-war painters. In the sixties the

Polish Poster School Beginning in the 1950s and through the 1980s, the Polish School of Posters combined the aesthetics of painting and the use of metaphor with the succinctness of the poster. By utilizing characteristics such as painterly gesture, linear quality, ...

was formed, with Henryk Tomaszewski and Waldemar Świerzy at its head.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (''Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych'', MSZ) is the Polish government department tasked with maintaining Poland's international relations and coordinating its participation in international and regional supra-natio ...

, 2002–2007
AN OVERVIEW OF POLISH CULTURE.
Access date 13 Dec 2007.

Contemporary art since 1989

Some of the most important representatives of contemporary art are

, Rafał Bujnowski, Józef Robakowski,

Paweł Althamer Paweł Althamer (born 12 May 1967, Warsaw) is a Polish contemporary sculptor, performer, collaborative artist and creator of installations, and video art. Life and work In the years 1988-1993, he studied sculpture at the Warsaw Academy of Fin ...

, Artur Żmijewski,

Robert Kuśmirowski Robert Kuśmirowski (born 1973) is a Polish contemporary artist whose work includes sculpture, installations, performance and photography. His work uses reconstruction of historical artefacts and settings to examine and manipulate historical them ...

, Zuzanna Janin,

Krzysztof Wodiczko Krzysztof Wodiczko (born April 16, 1943) is a Polish artist known for his large-scale slide and video projections on architectural facades and monuments. He has realized more than 80 such public projections in Australia, Austria, Canada, England ...

, Paulina Ołowska, Katarzyna Kozyra, Joanna Rajkowska, Gruppa Azorro. Independent galleries, mainly in Warsaw, Krakow, and Poznań, play an important role. In many cities museums of modern art are being built, gathering not only national but also international collections (Krakow, Wrocław, and Toruń). In

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, work is underway to build the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, which operates a temporary building, creating an international collection of contemporary art. It is open to the public since 2013.

Gallery

References

{{Art of Europe

Western art

Nineteenth century

Twentieth century

Contemporary art since 1989

Gallery

See also

References