DOI Heft:
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DOI Artikel:Załęski, Krzysztof: Stanisław Lorentz as the creator of the "Modern" National Museum
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18948#0030
descendants were placed with the Museum on permanent deposit. The Gallery
of Foreign Art was significantly enhanced when the City Administration, at the
initiative of Mayor Starzyński, purchased in May 1935 a collection of 95 Dutch
and Flemish paintings from Dr. Jan and Olga Popławski, which had been
collected in St. Petersburg before the Russian Revolution in 1917. Further
acąuisitions for the Gallery contributed to an increase in its significance. Major
scholarly and exhibition activity was undertaken in both the Galleries of Polish
and Foreign Painting, with publications embracing a broad spectrum of topics.
Exhibitions of gifts and acąuisitions were held twice (in 1936 and 1937), and
met with enthusiastic public reaction and encouraged further gifts to the
Museum.
Co-operation between the National Museum in Warsaw and the Institute
for the Promotion of Art (IPS) initiated group methods of scholarly and
museum work, which developed further after World War II. The IPS Council
included Lorentz and Michał Walicki, and later Juliusz Starzyński - from mid-
1935 the IPS Director - all of them in time were named active members; Jerzy
Sienkiewicz and Maciej Masłowski took part in its meetings, composing a
delegation from the Ministry of Religion and Public Education. Their presence
certainly influenced the broadening of exhibition themes, devoted to early art,
for example Warsaw Painting 1800-1850 (July - September 1936), whose
souvenir catalogue was edited by Jerzy Sienkiewicz. Contacts were madę with
similar museums and institutions abroad. In Paris the Director collaborated
with the Office des Musees at the League of Nations, which pubłished the
periodical Alouseion.
Exhibitions of foreign art mounted in the Museum were important events in
the nation’s cultural life. The exhibition French Painting trom Manet to the
Present, organized by the French government in 1937, was particularly
popular, with 60,000 visitors in 4 weeks. An exhibition entitled The Era of
Napoleon in Art was planned for 1940, prepared by Prof. Pierre Francastel and
Dr. Lorentz, which the French government intended to send to Poland. The
exhibition Painters ot Still-Lifes (1939) featuring the 17th century Dutch
School, prepared by the National Museum with works from domestic
collections, with a catalogue edited by Prof. Walicki on the basis of materiał
from the Rijksbureau voor kunsthistorische documentatie, elicited great
interest abroad.
Systematically organised temporary exhibitions became part of the
MuseunTs activities beginning in 1938, with special exhibition rooms
designated for that purpose. The Gallery of Polish Painting inaugurated them
with an exhibition of Polish water-colours and drawings from the 18th-20dl
centuries that extended through 5 rooms. The exhibition and catalogue were
prepared by curator Jerzy Sienkiewicz. Of the exhibitions devoted to a single
theme, the previously mentioned exhibition of Aleksander GierymskPs work
aroused the greatest interest among scholars, artists and a wide spectrum of the
public. Yet of all the pre-war exhibitions the most spectacular was nevertheless
Warsaw Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, consisting of 24 parts. It was
28
of Foreign Art was significantly enhanced when the City Administration, at the
initiative of Mayor Starzyński, purchased in May 1935 a collection of 95 Dutch
and Flemish paintings from Dr. Jan and Olga Popławski, which had been
collected in St. Petersburg before the Russian Revolution in 1917. Further
acąuisitions for the Gallery contributed to an increase in its significance. Major
scholarly and exhibition activity was undertaken in both the Galleries of Polish
and Foreign Painting, with publications embracing a broad spectrum of topics.
Exhibitions of gifts and acąuisitions were held twice (in 1936 and 1937), and
met with enthusiastic public reaction and encouraged further gifts to the
Museum.
Co-operation between the National Museum in Warsaw and the Institute
for the Promotion of Art (IPS) initiated group methods of scholarly and
museum work, which developed further after World War II. The IPS Council
included Lorentz and Michał Walicki, and later Juliusz Starzyński - from mid-
1935 the IPS Director - all of them in time were named active members; Jerzy
Sienkiewicz and Maciej Masłowski took part in its meetings, composing a
delegation from the Ministry of Religion and Public Education. Their presence
certainly influenced the broadening of exhibition themes, devoted to early art,
for example Warsaw Painting 1800-1850 (July - September 1936), whose
souvenir catalogue was edited by Jerzy Sienkiewicz. Contacts were madę with
similar museums and institutions abroad. In Paris the Director collaborated
with the Office des Musees at the League of Nations, which pubłished the
periodical Alouseion.
Exhibitions of foreign art mounted in the Museum were important events in
the nation’s cultural life. The exhibition French Painting trom Manet to the
Present, organized by the French government in 1937, was particularly
popular, with 60,000 visitors in 4 weeks. An exhibition entitled The Era of
Napoleon in Art was planned for 1940, prepared by Prof. Pierre Francastel and
Dr. Lorentz, which the French government intended to send to Poland. The
exhibition Painters ot Still-Lifes (1939) featuring the 17th century Dutch
School, prepared by the National Museum with works from domestic
collections, with a catalogue edited by Prof. Walicki on the basis of materiał
from the Rijksbureau voor kunsthistorische documentatie, elicited great
interest abroad.
Systematically organised temporary exhibitions became part of the
MuseunTs activities beginning in 1938, with special exhibition rooms
designated for that purpose. The Gallery of Polish Painting inaugurated them
with an exhibition of Polish water-colours and drawings from the 18th-20dl
centuries that extended through 5 rooms. The exhibition and catalogue were
prepared by curator Jerzy Sienkiewicz. Of the exhibitions devoted to a single
theme, the previously mentioned exhibition of Aleksander GierymskPs work
aroused the greatest interest among scholars, artists and a wide spectrum of the
public. Yet of all the pre-war exhibitions the most spectacular was nevertheless
Warsaw Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, consisting of 24 parts. It was
28