DOI article:
Poprzęcka, Maria: Enter the dragon
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52521#0243
Maria Poprzęcka
ENTER THE DRAGON
The significance of the "Poznań art history" in Polish art history since
1970 must be an object of comprehensive and many-sided research. To be-
gin with, I will focus on just one moment in its already long history Taking
a strictly private perspective, I will return to the situation when I encountered
the "Poznań art history" for the first time - let me called it "enter the dragon."
This catchy title, borrowed from pop culture, is not supposed to put into doubt
the quality of scholarship, but to convey the impetus with which a group of
young art historians from Poznań succeeded in entering the occupied, conser-
vative arena of Polish art history.
In 1970, by accident and unexpectedly, I started working in the Institute
of Art History at the University of Warsaw. Just next year, in 1970, quite "by
chance," as my academic advisor Professor Jan Białostocki put it, I success-
fully defended my Ph. D. dissertation. My position was indeed most favorable
- a university job, the youngest doctor in the held, and, above all, a sense of
satisfaction and safety since as a young art historian I found myself in possi-
bly the best place in the country. Perhaps not quite fully, but still I was aware
that the Polish art history of the 1960s, when I was a student, was tradition-
al, with its roots reaching the nineteenth century positivism, focused on the
matter-of-fact studies and stock-taking of Polish art, and rather uncritically
adapting the concepts, methods, and classifications proposed by the "West-
ern" art history, including also the history of the twentieth-century art, par-
ticularly that of the avant-gardes. On the other hand, what made my situ-
ation comfortable was the presence of Jan Białostocki who already at that
time was a scholar of high international reputation. Traveling a lot, knowing
many foreign scholars personally, a member of international organizations,
and a close friend of Erwin Panofsky but at the same time easy-going and
modest with his Polish colleagues, Białostocki created an illusion that the
wide world of conferences and first-rate periodicals and presses was close at
hand. Even though his position did not result in any privileges or favors for
us (he did not have his "court," "train" or "school"), his very presence in the
ENTER THE DRAGON
The significance of the "Poznań art history" in Polish art history since
1970 must be an object of comprehensive and many-sided research. To be-
gin with, I will focus on just one moment in its already long history Taking
a strictly private perspective, I will return to the situation when I encountered
the "Poznań art history" for the first time - let me called it "enter the dragon."
This catchy title, borrowed from pop culture, is not supposed to put into doubt
the quality of scholarship, but to convey the impetus with which a group of
young art historians from Poznań succeeded in entering the occupied, conser-
vative arena of Polish art history.
In 1970, by accident and unexpectedly, I started working in the Institute
of Art History at the University of Warsaw. Just next year, in 1970, quite "by
chance," as my academic advisor Professor Jan Białostocki put it, I success-
fully defended my Ph. D. dissertation. My position was indeed most favorable
- a university job, the youngest doctor in the held, and, above all, a sense of
satisfaction and safety since as a young art historian I found myself in possi-
bly the best place in the country. Perhaps not quite fully, but still I was aware
that the Polish art history of the 1960s, when I was a student, was tradition-
al, with its roots reaching the nineteenth century positivism, focused on the
matter-of-fact studies and stock-taking of Polish art, and rather uncritically
adapting the concepts, methods, and classifications proposed by the "West-
ern" art history, including also the history of the twentieth-century art, par-
ticularly that of the avant-gardes. On the other hand, what made my situ-
ation comfortable was the presence of Jan Białostocki who already at that
time was a scholar of high international reputation. Traveling a lot, knowing
many foreign scholars personally, a member of international organizations,
and a close friend of Erwin Panofsky but at the same time easy-going and
modest with his Polish colleagues, Białostocki created an illusion that the
wide world of conferences and first-rate periodicals and presses was close at
hand. Even though his position did not result in any privileges or favors for
us (he did not have his "court," "train" or "school"), his very presence in the