DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29195#0123
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um
rndour of the Past
Palace
hosts an art
gallery and
an editoriai
office
Certain places - villas and palaces - seem to be under the special auspices of the
Muses. The cult of the arts flourishes in them, artistic patronage thrives and concerts
abound in them, sometimes written works on the arts and letters are created in them.
The Czartoryski-Potocki Palace is certainly one of those places. All the more so, for
when in the mid-19th century, after a period of glory, it turned into a tenement house
the guardianesses of the fine arts did not forsake it but again came to its rescue with
assistance which seemed rather unsophisticated but turned out to be highly effective.
The Palace was transformed into an art gallery. Not within its walls, but on its spa-
cious court, where in 1881 the well-known publisher, printer, and entrepreneur Grac-
jan Unger (1853-1911: Fig. 108) installed a peculiar building. Not that its structure,
designed by Leandro Marconi, was ugly; however, its shape was not at all in concord
with the Palace, and that is why it was often referred to as “the shed” (Fig. 109).
Unger’s pavilion did not survive for long, only 15 years, but in that time it witnessed
many a splendid and memorable artistic event, which did much to neutralise and
conceal its “incompatibility” with the Palace’s elegance.
Ignacy Balinski noted down in his memoirs that he was not sure in which hall Hen-
ryk Siemiradzki’s “Christian Torches”hadbeen displayed, butitwasin Unger’s shed that
Warsaw hadfirst seen Matejko’s “Battle ofGrunwald”. The impression “Grunwald”had
made on contemporary society was dramatic, and must have been unforgettable for those
who saw thepainting. Polish painting had now taken up a place alongside the Nation’s
great Romantic poetry and the music ofChopin and Moniuszko — at the peak ofthe ar-
tistic task regarded at the time as its chiefand sacred duty: to show the world the vitality,
separate identity, andgreatness ofthe Polish Nation. . . . All who saw “Grunwald” came
away with a long-lasting image before their eyes ofthe charging Witold, trampling the an-
cient enemy (Balinski 1987, p. 155). The growing antagonism between Germany and
Russia opened up an opportunity for a reminder in Warsaw of such historic victories
won in times of old by Polish arms, and for recollections of the erstwhile grandeur of
a nation deprived of its statehood. Of course the recollecting could only be one-sided,
not permitting the display of Polish victories over Muscovite Russia, which was a per-
fectly feasible subject in the Austrian and Prussian zones of partition.
Unger’s name is associated with the establishment of a periodical that played an
enormous role in Poland’s cultural life. The weekly Tygodnik Ilustrowany was a store-
house of information, into which we have often delved in this book. It was founded
by Jozef Unger (1817—1874), Gracjan’s adoptive father, in 1859. In 1882, on the ini-
tiative of Franciszek Maksymilian Sobieszczanski, its editors rented an office in the
south wing of the Palace. Like his adoptive father, Gracjan Unger (born Gracjan
Jezynski), made his mark professionally as a printer, publisher, and bookseller. He
published a literary weekly entitled Biesiada Literacka, and set up a photo-chemi-
graphic printing shop which manufactured postcards and reproductions of paintings,
and in 1879 opened his gallery, known as Salon Sztuk Pi^knych. Oddly enough, it
pursued its activities as a business belonging to Jozef Unger, by then already deceased.
Apart from exhibiting works of art, Gracjan Unger was also an art dealer. The op-
erations of his gallery upset the plans of another cultural institution, Towarzystwo
Zach^ty Sztuk Pi^knych (the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts), which had
Fig. 108. Gracjan Unger, photograph; Archiwum Miasta Stotecznego Warszawy
(Warsaw Municipal Archives).
130
um
rndour of the Past
Palace
hosts an art
gallery and
an editoriai
office
Certain places - villas and palaces - seem to be under the special auspices of the
Muses. The cult of the arts flourishes in them, artistic patronage thrives and concerts
abound in them, sometimes written works on the arts and letters are created in them.
The Czartoryski-Potocki Palace is certainly one of those places. All the more so, for
when in the mid-19th century, after a period of glory, it turned into a tenement house
the guardianesses of the fine arts did not forsake it but again came to its rescue with
assistance which seemed rather unsophisticated but turned out to be highly effective.
The Palace was transformed into an art gallery. Not within its walls, but on its spa-
cious court, where in 1881 the well-known publisher, printer, and entrepreneur Grac-
jan Unger (1853-1911: Fig. 108) installed a peculiar building. Not that its structure,
designed by Leandro Marconi, was ugly; however, its shape was not at all in concord
with the Palace, and that is why it was often referred to as “the shed” (Fig. 109).
Unger’s pavilion did not survive for long, only 15 years, but in that time it witnessed
many a splendid and memorable artistic event, which did much to neutralise and
conceal its “incompatibility” with the Palace’s elegance.
Ignacy Balinski noted down in his memoirs that he was not sure in which hall Hen-
ryk Siemiradzki’s “Christian Torches”hadbeen displayed, butitwasin Unger’s shed that
Warsaw hadfirst seen Matejko’s “Battle ofGrunwald”. The impression “Grunwald”had
made on contemporary society was dramatic, and must have been unforgettable for those
who saw thepainting. Polish painting had now taken up a place alongside the Nation’s
great Romantic poetry and the music ofChopin and Moniuszko — at the peak ofthe ar-
tistic task regarded at the time as its chiefand sacred duty: to show the world the vitality,
separate identity, andgreatness ofthe Polish Nation. . . . All who saw “Grunwald” came
away with a long-lasting image before their eyes ofthe charging Witold, trampling the an-
cient enemy (Balinski 1987, p. 155). The growing antagonism between Germany and
Russia opened up an opportunity for a reminder in Warsaw of such historic victories
won in times of old by Polish arms, and for recollections of the erstwhile grandeur of
a nation deprived of its statehood. Of course the recollecting could only be one-sided,
not permitting the display of Polish victories over Muscovite Russia, which was a per-
fectly feasible subject in the Austrian and Prussian zones of partition.
Unger’s name is associated with the establishment of a periodical that played an
enormous role in Poland’s cultural life. The weekly Tygodnik Ilustrowany was a store-
house of information, into which we have often delved in this book. It was founded
by Jozef Unger (1817—1874), Gracjan’s adoptive father, in 1859. In 1882, on the ini-
tiative of Franciszek Maksymilian Sobieszczanski, its editors rented an office in the
south wing of the Palace. Like his adoptive father, Gracjan Unger (born Gracjan
Jezynski), made his mark professionally as a printer, publisher, and bookseller. He
published a literary weekly entitled Biesiada Literacka, and set up a photo-chemi-
graphic printing shop which manufactured postcards and reproductions of paintings,
and in 1879 opened his gallery, known as Salon Sztuk Pi^knych. Oddly enough, it
pursued its activities as a business belonging to Jozef Unger, by then already deceased.
Apart from exhibiting works of art, Gracjan Unger was also an art dealer. The op-
erations of his gallery upset the plans of another cultural institution, Towarzystwo
Zach^ty Sztuk Pi^knych (the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts), which had
Fig. 108. Gracjan Unger, photograph; Archiwum Miasta Stotecznego Warszawy
(Warsaw Municipal Archives).
130