DOI Artikel:
Labuda, Adam S.: A history of Polish art by Michał Walicki and Juliusz Starzyński in Poland between the World Wars: the West, Poland, the East
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52521#0087
A History of Polish Art by Michał Walicki and Juliusz Starzyński
81
was culturally and historically remote, "there and then," the property of the
nobility and not the people defined in modern terms.
Consequently, Walicki and Starzynski's overview presents two roots of
Polish art: its two systems of production and reception, which were isolat-
ed from each other, on the one hand close to the socio-political elite, on the
other, controlled by the socio-political margin of the petty gentry and bour-
geoisie. Starzyński, aware of the context of the democratic twentieth-century
Poland, argued that the duality was abolished in the epoch od King Stanislaw
August Poniatowski, a patron, art collector, and organizer of artistic life which
was supposed to serve the whole Polish society.27 According to Starzyński, the
King's patronage had a "social and pedagogic function," which was a refer-
ence to the pedagogy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, but it also sounds as a twen-
tieth-century state-building rhetoric. In fact, the most outstanding expert on
the topic in those times, Tadeusz Mańkowski, approached it in the same way
In his opinion, the patronage of Stanislaw August differed from that of his
predecessors, Zygmunt August, Zygmunt III Vasa, and Jan III Sobieski, due to
its "social" address since the "baroque patronage [was supposed] to augment
the glory of the monarch's court and represent the king as the embodiment
of the state."28 On the contrary, King Stanislaw August Poniatowski represent-
ed a "different" state that cared about the cultural enlightenment of its citi-
zens. Even though the last king of Poland had a cosmopolitan, French-aris-
tocratic, and elitist habitus, his activities could be interpreted as guidelines
for new Poland.29 Choosing another option, Walicki found the legitimation
of the egalitarian and democratic Poland between the world wars already in
the late Middle Ages - that idea was well grounded in the study of the period
in the West, particularly in contemporary France.30 Perhaps what it implied
was a critique of the Poland of nobility that collapsed due to the lack of social
balance between the privileged nobles and the marginalized bourgeoisie and
peasantry Such an opinion was expressed by historians and one art historian,
Mieczysław Gębarowicz. Unlike Walicki, Gębarowicz did not appreciate the
formalism and idealism of the Polish late gothic art but noticed its ability to
27 Ibidem, p. 1105ff. (p. 209ff.): Chapter V: The epoch and style of Stanislaw August.
28 T. Mańkowski, "Mecenat Stanisława Augusta," Życie Sztuki 1934, 1, pp. 157-167,
herep. 157.
29 On another approach to Stanislaw August Poniatowski in Poland between the world
wars, see E. Manikowska, "Materialna historiografia sztuki. Wokół książki Galerja Stanisła-
wa Augusta Tadeusza Mańkowskiego," Biuletyn Historii Sztuki 2013, 75(3), pp. 505-535.
30 A. Thomine-Berrada, F.-R. Martin, "Styles et nation en France autour de 1900.
Le Moyen âge comme origine en architecture et en historiographie," in: Nation, style, mo-
dernism, eds. J. Purchla, W Tegethoff, Cracow-Munich 2006, pp. 37-54, here 39ff.; Passini,
La Fabrique de l'art national, p. 89.
81
was culturally and historically remote, "there and then," the property of the
nobility and not the people defined in modern terms.
Consequently, Walicki and Starzynski's overview presents two roots of
Polish art: its two systems of production and reception, which were isolat-
ed from each other, on the one hand close to the socio-political elite, on the
other, controlled by the socio-political margin of the petty gentry and bour-
geoisie. Starzyński, aware of the context of the democratic twentieth-century
Poland, argued that the duality was abolished in the epoch od King Stanislaw
August Poniatowski, a patron, art collector, and organizer of artistic life which
was supposed to serve the whole Polish society.27 According to Starzyński, the
King's patronage had a "social and pedagogic function," which was a refer-
ence to the pedagogy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, but it also sounds as a twen-
tieth-century state-building rhetoric. In fact, the most outstanding expert on
the topic in those times, Tadeusz Mańkowski, approached it in the same way
In his opinion, the patronage of Stanislaw August differed from that of his
predecessors, Zygmunt August, Zygmunt III Vasa, and Jan III Sobieski, due to
its "social" address since the "baroque patronage [was supposed] to augment
the glory of the monarch's court and represent the king as the embodiment
of the state."28 On the contrary, King Stanislaw August Poniatowski represent-
ed a "different" state that cared about the cultural enlightenment of its citi-
zens. Even though the last king of Poland had a cosmopolitan, French-aris-
tocratic, and elitist habitus, his activities could be interpreted as guidelines
for new Poland.29 Choosing another option, Walicki found the legitimation
of the egalitarian and democratic Poland between the world wars already in
the late Middle Ages - that idea was well grounded in the study of the period
in the West, particularly in contemporary France.30 Perhaps what it implied
was a critique of the Poland of nobility that collapsed due to the lack of social
balance between the privileged nobles and the marginalized bourgeoisie and
peasantry Such an opinion was expressed by historians and one art historian,
Mieczysław Gębarowicz. Unlike Walicki, Gębarowicz did not appreciate the
formalism and idealism of the Polish late gothic art but noticed its ability to
27 Ibidem, p. 1105ff. (p. 209ff.): Chapter V: The epoch and style of Stanislaw August.
28 T. Mańkowski, "Mecenat Stanisława Augusta," Życie Sztuki 1934, 1, pp. 157-167,
herep. 157.
29 On another approach to Stanislaw August Poniatowski in Poland between the world
wars, see E. Manikowska, "Materialna historiografia sztuki. Wokół książki Galerja Stanisła-
wa Augusta Tadeusza Mańkowskiego," Biuletyn Historii Sztuki 2013, 75(3), pp. 505-535.
30 A. Thomine-Berrada, F.-R. Martin, "Styles et nation en France autour de 1900.
Le Moyen âge comme origine en architecture et en historiographie," in: Nation, style, mo-
dernism, eds. J. Purchla, W Tegethoff, Cracow-Munich 2006, pp. 37-54, here 39ff.; Passini,
La Fabrique de l'art national, p. 89.