The Centre of Polish Sculpture () in

Orońsko Orońsko is a village in Szydłowiec County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Orońsko. It lies approximately north-east of Szydłowiec and south of Warsaw Wa ...

, near

Radom Radom is a city in east-central Poland, located approximately south of the capital, Warsaw. It is situated on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship. Radom is the fifteenth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in its province w ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, is a

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

housed at

Józef Brandt Józef Brandt (1841 in Szczebrzeszyn – 1915 in Radom) was a Polish painter best known for his paintings of battles in Polish history. Life Brandt studied in Warsaw in the school of J.N. Leszczynski and at the Noblemen's Institute. In 1858 he ...

’s 19th-century manor house.

Collection

The centre's collections comprise 621 sculptures, installations and other art forms owned by the centre, as well as 173 deposit items. The collections additionally include 70 paintings, drawings and tapestries. The centre's activities and the manor complex are maintained by the Joseph Brandt Foundation. The centre also provides technical support for artists who participate in its Sculpting Program.

Józef Brandt's manor house

Józef Brandt's manor house was built in the second half of the 19th century in an Italian

neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival ar ...

style. It accommodates a permanent exhibit of 19th-century manor interiors. The ambiance of a 19th-century country mansion is preserved in the furniture:

Louis Philippe Louis Philippe I (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850), nicknamed the Citizen King, was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, the penultimate monarch of France, and the last French monarch to bear the title "King". He abdicated from his throne ...

Biedermeier The Biedermeier period was an era in Central European art and culture between 1815 and 1848 during which the middle classes grew in number and artists began producing works appealing to their sensibilities. The period began with the end of th ...

and neo-Rococo pieces. Drawings and paintings by

Jacek Malczewski Jacek Malczewski (; 15 July 1854 – 8 October 1929) was a Polish symbolist painter who was one of the central figures of the patriotic Young Poland movement. His works combined the predominant style of his time with historical motifs of Pol ...

Juliusz Kossak Juliusz Fortunat Kossak (15 December 1824 – 3 February 1899) was a Polish historical painter and master illustrator who specialized in battle scenes, military portraits and horses. He was the progenitor of an artistic family that spanned fou ...

, Apoloniusz Kędzierski and Alfred Schouppé, and sculptures by Pius Welloński and Feliks Georg Pffeifer, complement the exhibit.

The manor complex

The manor complex also includes an orangery, chapel, annex, granary, coach-house and stables. The orangery, built 1869, once served both as a hothouse and as Brandt's atelier. Today it is a venue for temporary exhibits. Changing exhibits are held in the old manor chapel, built 1841. The annex — created from the earliest

orangery — accommodates the centre's administration and the Friends of Sculpture. The coach-house, erected by Brandt in 1905, houses a permanent sculpture gallery. Since 1995 it has showcased

Magdalena Abakanowicz Magdalena Abakanowicz (; 20 June 1930 – 20 April 2017) was a Polish sculpture, sculptor and fiber artist. Known for her use of textiles as a sculptural medium and for outdoor installations, Abakanowicz has been considered among the most influen ...

’s ''Ukon'', from her cycle, ''War Games''. Brandt's stable has been adapted into six sculpting ateliers.

Centre of Polish Sculpture

The centre's

sculpture garden A sculpture garden or sculpture park is an outdoor garden or park which includes the presentation of sculpture, usually several permanently sited works in durable materials in landscaped surroundings. A sculpture garden may be private, owned by ...

was created in 1965. That same year, work began on establishing a Sculpting Program. The Friends of Sculpture was founded in 1969. The year 1981 saw the establishment, with Ministry of Art and Culture support, of a state ''Museum and Centre of Polish Sculpture in Orońsko''. Four years later, the institution was renamed the ''Centre of Polish Sculpture''. A Museum of Contemporary Sculpture, and a

designed by Professor Grzegorz Kowalski, were completed in 1992. In 1997, the Józef Brandt Foundation was chartered. The Centre of Polish Sculpture's collections comprise 621 sculptures, installations and other art forms that are property of the centre, as well as 173 deposit items. The collections also include 70 drawings, paintings and tapestries. The

Sculpture Garden A sculpture garden or sculpture park is an outdoor garden or park which includes the presentation of sculpture, usually several permanently sited works in durable materials in landscaped surroundings. A sculpture garden may be private, owned by ...

contains 93 works by 77 artists. The centre's holdings include works by

Mirosław Bałka Miroslaw Balka (born 16 December 1958) is a Polish contemporary sculptor and video artist. Life and career Miroslaw Balka is a sculptor also active in the field of experimental video and drawing, born in Warsaw, Poland. In 1985 he graduated fr ...

, Krzysztof M. Bednarski,

Jan Berdyszak Jan Berdyszak (15 June 1934 –18 September 2014) was a Polish people, Polish artist. From 1952 to 1958, he studied at the Sculpture Department of the State College of Fine Arts in Poznań (now Fine Arts Academy), where he eventually returned as ...

, Tadashi Hashimoto,

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

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 Ukrai ...

, Grzegorz Klaman,

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 A ...

Zofia Kulik Zofia Kulik (born 1947 in Wrocław, Poland) is a Polish artist living and working in Łomianki (Warsaw), whose art combines political criticism with a feminist perspective. Career Kulik studied at the Sculpture Department of the Warsaw Acade ...

, Teresa Murak, Adam Myjak, Jan de Weryha-Wysoczanski and

Józef Szajna Józef Szajna (; 13 March 1922 in Rzeszów, Poland – 24 June 2008 in Warsaw) was a Polish set designer, director, playwright, theoretician of the theatre, painter and graphic artist. During the Second World War and occupation of Poland, Sz ...

. The centre maintains a reference library on sculpture and related fields.

The Sculpting Program

The centre's Sculpting Program offers the availability of 6 ateliers, a 5,200 m² work yard, and technical workshops for metalworking, woodworking, ceramics, foundry-work and conservation.

Publications

The centre publishes * The annual, ''Polish Sculpture''; * Orońsko Seminars; * The sculpture quarterly, ''Orońsko''; * Monographs on Polish sculptors; * Thematic publications and catalogs.

The Józef Brandt Foundation

The non-profit Józef Brandt Foundation was inaugurated in 1997, charged with preserving the historic

gardens and manor complex, and supporting the activities of the Centre of Polish Sculpture.

External links

Official WebsiteArturban Sculpture
{{authority control Sculpture galleries Szydłowiec County Museums in Masovian Voivodeship Art museums and galleries in Poland Art museums and galleries established in 1981 1981 establishments in Poland Sculpture gardens, trails and parks in Europe