DOI Heft:
Nr. 2-3
DOI Artikel:Rottermund, Andrzej: The "Road to Independence" in Polish art of the 19th century
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18864#0064
1. Banner from the time of January 1863 Uprising, embroidery and application on wool
loyed traditional value systems and expect art first of all to provide an artistic experience,
i.e. if we adopted the concept of "closed art" (W. Hofmann's term)2 then we would have to view
the figurative arts of the first half of the 19th century, and in many cases also of the second,
as being far behind the achievements of literaturę. The situation in Polish art may appear different
if we consider it in terms of open art, hence not only as a source of artistic emotions but also,
or even primarily, as a device for satisfying non-artistic needs.
This open approach to art was the starting point for the orga-nizers of the exhibition Polish
Road to Independence. We were comdnced that if we were to tracę the genealogy, the inspirations
and the sources of our national imagination, to follow the wandering motifs and symbols and
finally the o^ erall process of creation of the visual language used until the present, we could not
confine ourselves to art sanctified as the "True Art". The mere faet that the two opposite
standpoints are adopted has its origin back in the 19th century when the concepts of "art for
art's sake", "avant-garde" on the one hand and "mass art", "kitseh" and "trivial art" on the
other, were worked out. There is no need to emphasize the 19th century character of such an
understanding of art.
Until recently, research into the history of 19th century Polish art focused almost exclusively
on facts and the assessment of the artistic value of works ; the research, however necessary and
essential, overlooked the iconographic aspect, indispensable for the fuli understanding of a visual
communication. In Polish literaturę on art this aspect has been dealt with by Mieczysław Po-
W. Hofmann, „Kitseh und Trivialkunst ais Gebrauchskunste", Das Triuiale in Literatur, Musik und bildender Kunst,
Frankfurt am Main, 1972, pp. 210—225. (Translation into Polish was published in Pojęcia, problemy, metody współ-
czesnej nauki o sztuce, Warszawa, 1976, pp. 446—484. Translated by S. Michalski).
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loyed traditional value systems and expect art first of all to provide an artistic experience,
i.e. if we adopted the concept of "closed art" (W. Hofmann's term)2 then we would have to view
the figurative arts of the first half of the 19th century, and in many cases also of the second,
as being far behind the achievements of literaturę. The situation in Polish art may appear different
if we consider it in terms of open art, hence not only as a source of artistic emotions but also,
or even primarily, as a device for satisfying non-artistic needs.
This open approach to art was the starting point for the orga-nizers of the exhibition Polish
Road to Independence. We were comdnced that if we were to tracę the genealogy, the inspirations
and the sources of our national imagination, to follow the wandering motifs and symbols and
finally the o^ erall process of creation of the visual language used until the present, we could not
confine ourselves to art sanctified as the "True Art". The mere faet that the two opposite
standpoints are adopted has its origin back in the 19th century when the concepts of "art for
art's sake", "avant-garde" on the one hand and "mass art", "kitseh" and "trivial art" on the
other, were worked out. There is no need to emphasize the 19th century character of such an
understanding of art.
Until recently, research into the history of 19th century Polish art focused almost exclusively
on facts and the assessment of the artistic value of works ; the research, however necessary and
essential, overlooked the iconographic aspect, indispensable for the fuli understanding of a visual
communication. In Polish literaturę on art this aspect has been dealt with by Mieczysław Po-
W. Hofmann, „Kitseh und Trivialkunst ais Gebrauchskunste", Das Triuiale in Literatur, Musik und bildender Kunst,
Frankfurt am Main, 1972, pp. 210—225. (Translation into Polish was published in Pojęcia, problemy, metody współ-
czesnej nauki o sztuce, Warszawa, 1976, pp. 446—484. Translated by S. Michalski).
54