DOI article:
Kurzac, Małgorzata: Klub Młodych Artystów i Naukowców (1947-1949): Dyskusje i polemiki na temat nowego modelu sztuki nowoczesnej
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19068#0090
among other things, subject matter, freedom of formal expression, and the choice
and topicality of the models drawn from cultural tradition. While the artists, re-
jecting an illusion of representation, stood for entirely new forms of art, which
would express the ongoing changes in the surrounding reality, the writers pro-
posed a realistic and expressive model of art. In literaturę this was indeed a new
ąuality, but when transferred to the visual arts it turned out to be anachronistic
and impossible to accept by the milieu connected with avant-garde art. In addi-
tion, although young artists accepted the statements about the dialectical devel-
opment of history which imposed various conditions on all human activities (in-
cluding artistic creation), they did not at all consider it necessary to relinąuish
their creative independence. Unlike the writers they claimed that art must not
succumb to the pressure of the criteria of generał comprehensibility or suspend
experimentation in its form or content, as this would mean the end of its free de-
velopment. This would endanger its autonomy and threaten to involve it in the
mechanisms of propaganda and power.
A particular opportunity for a broad exchange of opinions was offered by dis-
cussions that accompanied the opening of each exhibition of the Club. They at-
tracted members of all sections, the invited guests, and the generał public. The
Club, functioning as an open institution, announced its meetings by notices in
newspapers and by posters, so everyone interested could take part in the discus-
sions freely and gratis; the organizers intended thereby to protect them from be-
ing unnecessarily exclusive. It was aiready during the first discussion about
painting that a number of the most essential problems of the time were brought
up. S. Wegner opened it with a paper entitled Fine Art Must Justify Its Existence,
which dealt with the relations between experimental ąuests in painting and com-
mercial art and architecture. It was followed by discussions concerning a contro-
versy on art and its social reception (this discussion was preceded by W. Strze-
miński^ reading of some extracts from his Theory of Vision) \ commercial art issues
(W. Jastrzębowskie paper); the ąuestions of pictorial content and form (M. Bo-
gusz's paper); the problem of the ideological commitment of present-day art (in-
troduction by T. Borowski); and the issues of modern architecture (J. Sołtahs paper).
The Club discussions on painting attest above all to a deep commitment of
this circle to the matters connected with the situation of the modern current in
Polish art. They reveal the then felt common need for providing an optimum for-
muła that would be sufficiently flexible to reconcile a wide rangę of issues to be
considered, such as modern form, realism, presence of subject matter, reference to
reality, utility of art and its independence, dialectical development of art, and the
category of a mass viewer. The example of the Young Artists and Scientists' Club
- an independent centrę, assisting avant-garde creators in undertaking common,
organized activities - indicates that in the postwar reality only a joint effort
could contribute to a gradual normalization of the situation in Polish art and, first
and foremost, that it was the only possibility, the only chance of forcing through
or at least presenting some new values, new solutions in contemporary art, which
were advocated particularly by the youngest generation of budding artists.
86
and topicality of the models drawn from cultural tradition. While the artists, re-
jecting an illusion of representation, stood for entirely new forms of art, which
would express the ongoing changes in the surrounding reality, the writers pro-
posed a realistic and expressive model of art. In literaturę this was indeed a new
ąuality, but when transferred to the visual arts it turned out to be anachronistic
and impossible to accept by the milieu connected with avant-garde art. In addi-
tion, although young artists accepted the statements about the dialectical devel-
opment of history which imposed various conditions on all human activities (in-
cluding artistic creation), they did not at all consider it necessary to relinąuish
their creative independence. Unlike the writers they claimed that art must not
succumb to the pressure of the criteria of generał comprehensibility or suspend
experimentation in its form or content, as this would mean the end of its free de-
velopment. This would endanger its autonomy and threaten to involve it in the
mechanisms of propaganda and power.
A particular opportunity for a broad exchange of opinions was offered by dis-
cussions that accompanied the opening of each exhibition of the Club. They at-
tracted members of all sections, the invited guests, and the generał public. The
Club, functioning as an open institution, announced its meetings by notices in
newspapers and by posters, so everyone interested could take part in the discus-
sions freely and gratis; the organizers intended thereby to protect them from be-
ing unnecessarily exclusive. It was aiready during the first discussion about
painting that a number of the most essential problems of the time were brought
up. S. Wegner opened it with a paper entitled Fine Art Must Justify Its Existence,
which dealt with the relations between experimental ąuests in painting and com-
mercial art and architecture. It was followed by discussions concerning a contro-
versy on art and its social reception (this discussion was preceded by W. Strze-
miński^ reading of some extracts from his Theory of Vision) \ commercial art issues
(W. Jastrzębowskie paper); the ąuestions of pictorial content and form (M. Bo-
gusz's paper); the problem of the ideological commitment of present-day art (in-
troduction by T. Borowski); and the issues of modern architecture (J. Sołtahs paper).
The Club discussions on painting attest above all to a deep commitment of
this circle to the matters connected with the situation of the modern current in
Polish art. They reveal the then felt common need for providing an optimum for-
muła that would be sufficiently flexible to reconcile a wide rangę of issues to be
considered, such as modern form, realism, presence of subject matter, reference to
reality, utility of art and its independence, dialectical development of art, and the
category of a mass viewer. The example of the Young Artists and Scientists' Club
- an independent centrę, assisting avant-garde creators in undertaking common,
organized activities - indicates that in the postwar reality only a joint effort
could contribute to a gradual normalization of the situation in Polish art and, first
and foremost, that it was the only possibility, the only chance of forcing through
or at least presenting some new values, new solutions in contemporary art, which
were advocated particularly by the youngest generation of budding artists.
86