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DOI Artikel:Grauer, Elise F.: Bridging the gap: Count Athanazy Raczyński and his galleries in Poland and Prussia
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28199#0008
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ELISE F. GRAUER
be adequately appreciated only when seen against the backdrop of
Raczyhski’s ambitions, his social and political situation and his
ambiguous position between Poland and Prussia.
A number of publications already exist on Athanazy Raczyński.1 * * 4
This article does not propose to present fundamentally new historical
facts but will introduce Raczyński and his works from a specific angle -
by focussing on his activities in the world of art in the light of his Polish-
Prussian biography. Particularly his galleries will be examined to show
how they served him as means to achieve certain personal, professional,
political and social goals. This will be done by referring amongst other
sources to Raczyhski’s mostly unpublished diaries, which he wrote
between 1806 and 1870. The documents are now in the possession of a
family member in London, where the author had the privilege to peruse
them.
As the many entries in Raczyhski’s hitherto largely unused diaries
show, the collector and diplomat felt torn throughout his life between
diverging sets of values that he saw represented by his mother country
Poland on the one hand and his chosen country Prussia on the other
hand. Polish compatriots criticised Raczyński as a turncoat to the
Prussians whereas the latter mistrusted him due to his status as a
foreigner. Also, Raczyirski’s catholic denomination did not make things
easier for him in protestant Prussia. Politically a conservative hard-liner
Raczyński, moreover, saw himself confronted with an increasingly demo-
cratic political landscape. Before this background, negotiating these
conflicts and finding his position in society seemed to be of over-
whelming importance to Raczyński. Apart from the diaries, his gallery
projects, often pervaded by his political views, give strong testimony of
the count’s strife for social recognition and self-definition. Raczyfiski’s
Polish-Prussian biography fundamentally influenced his gallery at the
Königsplatz in Berlin but possibly most significantly shaped his last
project: the family gallery in Gaj Maly, twenty-five kilometres north west
of Poznań. So far this gallery has hardly received any attention by art
historians and was never appreciated in the context of his other projects.
This article will examine comprehensively and systematically the
cultural history of Raczyhski’s four gallery projects in the context of his
1 Key works are Galeria Atanazego Raczyńskiego, ex.cat., Muzeum Narodowe w Po-
znaniu, Poznań 1981; Michael S. Cullen, ‘Das Palais Raczyński. Vom Bauwerk, das dem
Reichstag weichen musste’, in Berlin und Geschichte und Gegenwart. Jahrbuch des Lan-
desarchivs Berlin (1984), pp. 25-48; Sammlung Graf Raczyński. Malerei der Spätromantik
aus dem Nationalmuseum Poznań, ex.cat., Neue Pinakothek, Munich 1992. Zofia Ostrow-
ska-Kębłowska, ‘Polish Residences-Museums in the 19th century’, in Polish Art Studies
II, Studies in Art History (1980), pp. 59-82.
ELISE F. GRAUER
be adequately appreciated only when seen against the backdrop of
Raczyhski’s ambitions, his social and political situation and his
ambiguous position between Poland and Prussia.
A number of publications already exist on Athanazy Raczyński.1 * * 4
This article does not propose to present fundamentally new historical
facts but will introduce Raczyński and his works from a specific angle -
by focussing on his activities in the world of art in the light of his Polish-
Prussian biography. Particularly his galleries will be examined to show
how they served him as means to achieve certain personal, professional,
political and social goals. This will be done by referring amongst other
sources to Raczyhski’s mostly unpublished diaries, which he wrote
between 1806 and 1870. The documents are now in the possession of a
family member in London, where the author had the privilege to peruse
them.
As the many entries in Raczyhski’s hitherto largely unused diaries
show, the collector and diplomat felt torn throughout his life between
diverging sets of values that he saw represented by his mother country
Poland on the one hand and his chosen country Prussia on the other
hand. Polish compatriots criticised Raczyński as a turncoat to the
Prussians whereas the latter mistrusted him due to his status as a
foreigner. Also, Raczyirski’s catholic denomination did not make things
easier for him in protestant Prussia. Politically a conservative hard-liner
Raczyński, moreover, saw himself confronted with an increasingly demo-
cratic political landscape. Before this background, negotiating these
conflicts and finding his position in society seemed to be of over-
whelming importance to Raczyński. Apart from the diaries, his gallery
projects, often pervaded by his political views, give strong testimony of
the count’s strife for social recognition and self-definition. Raczyfiski’s
Polish-Prussian biography fundamentally influenced his gallery at the
Königsplatz in Berlin but possibly most significantly shaped his last
project: the family gallery in Gaj Maly, twenty-five kilometres north west
of Poznań. So far this gallery has hardly received any attention by art
historians and was never appreciated in the context of his other projects.
This article will examine comprehensively and systematically the
cultural history of Raczyhski’s four gallery projects in the context of his
1 Key works are Galeria Atanazego Raczyńskiego, ex.cat., Muzeum Narodowe w Po-
znaniu, Poznań 1981; Michael S. Cullen, ‘Das Palais Raczyński. Vom Bauwerk, das dem
Reichstag weichen musste’, in Berlin und Geschichte und Gegenwart. Jahrbuch des Lan-
desarchivs Berlin (1984), pp. 25-48; Sammlung Graf Raczyński. Malerei der Spätromantik
aus dem Nationalmuseum Poznań, ex.cat., Neue Pinakothek, Munich 1992. Zofia Ostrow-
ska-Kębłowska, ‘Polish Residences-Museums in the 19th century’, in Polish Art Studies
II, Studies in Art History (1980), pp. 59-82.