DOI issue:
Nr. 2
DOI article:Murawska-Muthesius, Katarzyna: How the West corroborated socialist realism in the East: Fougeron, Taslitzky and Picasso in Warsaw
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49349#0334
324
Katarzyna Murawska-Muthesius
Most importantly, the exhibition included at least two straightforwardly modernist paint-
ings, of blatantly anti-bourgeois avowal, and undeniably formalist in their making; namely,
the notorious Massacre in Korea but Picasso and Leger's Constructors.62 According to
Antoine Baudin's research, neither of these pictures could have been shown anywhere else
in Eastern Europe at this time. In his wide-reaching study on the implementation of 'Zh-
danovshchina' in Eastern Europe, Baudin raises the issue of the function of Western Europe-
an New Realisms which for him acted not as corroboration of the socialist realist doctrine,
but, contrary to it, as 'pale substitutes for modern artistic culture'. Baudin argues that French
and Italian New Realism, popularised in Poland (and let us add, also in Czechoslovakia,
Hungary, Romania and other satellite countries), did not really enter the visual landscape of
Zhdanovist culture in the Soviet Union before the late 1950s. Although occasionally written
about, these works were hardly ever reproduced in the Soviet media, and were kept away
from the public gaze for their 'irremediable attachment to western modernism'. The ban
included, of course, the works of Picasso - even those from his 'red period'. Poland, Baudin
asserts, was a different case.63 An explanation for what seems to be an unexpected rift in the
official art policy in Stalinist Poland, or, a disruption in the hegemonie narrative of the ruth-
less suppression and the monolithic predictability of socialist realist discourse in a subjugat-
ed Poland, could be sought in the fact that the idea of the exhibition of French communist art
was an outcome of the resolution of the much discussed World Congress of Intellectuals in
Defence of Peace which had been staged in Wrocław in 1948.64 Like the Congress itself, the
exhibition of 1952 can be seen as one of the belated corollaries of the earlier stages in the
process of position-taking in the still indeterminate field of politico-cultural relations be-
tween the West and East in the aftermath of World War II.
Looking back at the list of names of those western artists who took part in exhibitions
of progressive art of capitalist countries in Poland in the early 1950s, it is, predictably,
Picasso, rather than Fougeron, whose 'liberating' impact would be underlined by the main-
stream art-historical discourse of today.65 It is much less willingly acknowledged, however,
62 Among 78 works presented at the exhibition (49 paintings, 4 sculptures, 18 drawings, 5 tapestries) there were Les
Dockers by Georges Baquier, French Worker by Ardavazt Berberian; The Exploited by Pierre Dupont, 2 other paintings
by Fougeron (Hommage a Marcel Cachin, Henri Martin); 3 paintings by Jean-Francis Laglenne (Reconstruction, Peace
Manifestation in Warsaw, A Dove); łst May Parade by Marie-Anne Lansiaux, The Constructors by Leger; The
conference by Bernard Lorjou, The composition with flowers by Matisse, Maurice Thorez va bien by Jean Milhau; The
Communist Party meeting by Mireille Miailhe; Peace by Nadia Petrova; The Massacre in Korea by Picasso, Miners by
Edouard Pignon; Still-life by Paul Rebeyrolle; Fishing boats in Barfleur by Paul Signac, 14 February 1950 at Nice by
Gerard Singer; Henri Martin by Boris Taslitzky; We want Peace by Jean Venitien. Sculptures included busts by
Emmanuel Auricoste, drawings - the sketches by Fougeron, Mireille Miailhe, Jean Effel and Boris Taslitzky, while
textiles were represented by the decorative compositions by Jean Luręat, Jean Picart le Doux and Marc Saint-Saens
(STANISŁAWSKI, Wystawa Współczesnej Plastyki Francuskiej, op. cit.). In 1963, Leger's Constructors was donated
by his widow, Nadia Leger to the Pushkin Museum in Moscow; in 1969; she presented two majolica panels by Leger (Le
visage du deux mains and Composition abstractif) to the National Museum in Warsaw.
63 While Baudin's thesis might appear somewhat provocative (after all, the first book on French New Realist was
published in the USSR in 1951), it supports his argument about the 'verbalisation' of socialist realism in Stalinist
culture, about its 'essentially discursive' nature, which was formulated against the 'contagious', 'negative example of
western modernity' (BAUDIN, 'Why is Soviet Painting Hidden from Us'...., op. cit., pp. 244-5).
64 For the Congress of Intellectuals in Wrocław, see: ed. M. BIBROWSKI, Picasso w Polsce, Cracow 1979;
Z. WOŹNICZKA, Wrocławski Kongres Intelektualistów w Obronie Pokoju, 'Kwartalnik Historyczny', 1988, 2,
pp. 131-57.
65 Cf.: P. BERNATOWICZ, Picasso w Polsce zaraz po wojnie, 'Artium Quaestiones', 11, 2000, pp. 155-220;
D. FOLGA- JANUSZEWSKA, Picasso: Przemiany/ Changes, exhib. cat., Warsaw, Muzeum Narodowe, 2002.
Katarzyna Murawska-Muthesius
Most importantly, the exhibition included at least two straightforwardly modernist paint-
ings, of blatantly anti-bourgeois avowal, and undeniably formalist in their making; namely,
the notorious Massacre in Korea but Picasso and Leger's Constructors.62 According to
Antoine Baudin's research, neither of these pictures could have been shown anywhere else
in Eastern Europe at this time. In his wide-reaching study on the implementation of 'Zh-
danovshchina' in Eastern Europe, Baudin raises the issue of the function of Western Europe-
an New Realisms which for him acted not as corroboration of the socialist realist doctrine,
but, contrary to it, as 'pale substitutes for modern artistic culture'. Baudin argues that French
and Italian New Realism, popularised in Poland (and let us add, also in Czechoslovakia,
Hungary, Romania and other satellite countries), did not really enter the visual landscape of
Zhdanovist culture in the Soviet Union before the late 1950s. Although occasionally written
about, these works were hardly ever reproduced in the Soviet media, and were kept away
from the public gaze for their 'irremediable attachment to western modernism'. The ban
included, of course, the works of Picasso - even those from his 'red period'. Poland, Baudin
asserts, was a different case.63 An explanation for what seems to be an unexpected rift in the
official art policy in Stalinist Poland, or, a disruption in the hegemonie narrative of the ruth-
less suppression and the monolithic predictability of socialist realist discourse in a subjugat-
ed Poland, could be sought in the fact that the idea of the exhibition of French communist art
was an outcome of the resolution of the much discussed World Congress of Intellectuals in
Defence of Peace which had been staged in Wrocław in 1948.64 Like the Congress itself, the
exhibition of 1952 can be seen as one of the belated corollaries of the earlier stages in the
process of position-taking in the still indeterminate field of politico-cultural relations be-
tween the West and East in the aftermath of World War II.
Looking back at the list of names of those western artists who took part in exhibitions
of progressive art of capitalist countries in Poland in the early 1950s, it is, predictably,
Picasso, rather than Fougeron, whose 'liberating' impact would be underlined by the main-
stream art-historical discourse of today.65 It is much less willingly acknowledged, however,
62 Among 78 works presented at the exhibition (49 paintings, 4 sculptures, 18 drawings, 5 tapestries) there were Les
Dockers by Georges Baquier, French Worker by Ardavazt Berberian; The Exploited by Pierre Dupont, 2 other paintings
by Fougeron (Hommage a Marcel Cachin, Henri Martin); 3 paintings by Jean-Francis Laglenne (Reconstruction, Peace
Manifestation in Warsaw, A Dove); łst May Parade by Marie-Anne Lansiaux, The Constructors by Leger; The
conference by Bernard Lorjou, The composition with flowers by Matisse, Maurice Thorez va bien by Jean Milhau; The
Communist Party meeting by Mireille Miailhe; Peace by Nadia Petrova; The Massacre in Korea by Picasso, Miners by
Edouard Pignon; Still-life by Paul Rebeyrolle; Fishing boats in Barfleur by Paul Signac, 14 February 1950 at Nice by
Gerard Singer; Henri Martin by Boris Taslitzky; We want Peace by Jean Venitien. Sculptures included busts by
Emmanuel Auricoste, drawings - the sketches by Fougeron, Mireille Miailhe, Jean Effel and Boris Taslitzky, while
textiles were represented by the decorative compositions by Jean Luręat, Jean Picart le Doux and Marc Saint-Saens
(STANISŁAWSKI, Wystawa Współczesnej Plastyki Francuskiej, op. cit.). In 1963, Leger's Constructors was donated
by his widow, Nadia Leger to the Pushkin Museum in Moscow; in 1969; she presented two majolica panels by Leger (Le
visage du deux mains and Composition abstractif) to the National Museum in Warsaw.
63 While Baudin's thesis might appear somewhat provocative (after all, the first book on French New Realist was
published in the USSR in 1951), it supports his argument about the 'verbalisation' of socialist realism in Stalinist
culture, about its 'essentially discursive' nature, which was formulated against the 'contagious', 'negative example of
western modernity' (BAUDIN, 'Why is Soviet Painting Hidden from Us'...., op. cit., pp. 244-5).
64 For the Congress of Intellectuals in Wrocław, see: ed. M. BIBROWSKI, Picasso w Polsce, Cracow 1979;
Z. WOŹNICZKA, Wrocławski Kongres Intelektualistów w Obronie Pokoju, 'Kwartalnik Historyczny', 1988, 2,
pp. 131-57.
65 Cf.: P. BERNATOWICZ, Picasso w Polsce zaraz po wojnie, 'Artium Quaestiones', 11, 2000, pp. 155-220;
D. FOLGA- JANUSZEWSKA, Picasso: Przemiany/ Changes, exhib. cat., Warsaw, Muzeum Narodowe, 2002.