DOI Artikel:
Wójcik, Agata: „Myśl artystyczna”, która przeniknęła do „knajp”: Wnętrza restauracyjne w Starym Teatrze w Krakowie projektu artystów związanych z Towarzystwem Polska Sztuka Stosowana
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44918#0147
Polish artists, the Biedermeier style also had some native connotations. Biedermeier
furniture madę up a large portion of the equipment of noble manors, which at the
beginning of the twentieth century became the ideał of a Polish home. Incidentally,
the tpss played a part in popularizing the manor-house forms: the Society organ-
ized the competition in Opinogóra; it reproduced photographs and drawings of
manor houses in its magazine “Materiały tpss”; and organized an exhibition of
wooden architecture (Kraków, 1905). The culmination of these tpss activities was
the co-organization of the exhibition of architecture and interiors in garden sur-
roundings, in Kraków in 1912. The artists from the tpss circle, who were drawing
from the forms and decorations of Biedermeier furniture, designed the furniture
in which - as in the case of restaurants in the Stary Teatr - they often combined
it with folk motifs or, on the contrary, they simplified the shapes and eliminated
the ornaments. As an example of the revival of the Biedermeier style in the Polish
furniture making of the early twentieth century, we might also quote further ex-
amples: a suitę of furniture for the dining room of Władysław Reymont, designed
by Czajkowski; a living room suitę in a suburban manor house designed by Tichy;
and a dining room suitę, also in a manor house, designed by Uziembło.
The most marginal trend in the interiors of the Stary Teatr is the geometrical-
modernist tendency, characterized by the rejection of ornamentation, the simplifica-
tion of form, and making the impact primarily by virtue of the beauty of the materiał
itself. This is visible in the discussed interior only in the furniture of Dąbrowas
design. This tendency has also been combined with decorations (kilim rugs and
polychrome painting) in which the influence of folk ornaments is visible.
This multiplicity of inspirations, and binding them together in one single object,
as well as in one single interior, was the result of the views on the national style held
by the tpss. In the Society s circle it was commonly believed that “the elements
of artistic uniqueness exist both in our history and in the distinctive, individual
creations by some Polish artists, as well as in the self-made creation of the people”.26
According to Warchałowski, national art consists of two elements: “individual talent
of the most gifted sons of the nation” (both professional and folk artists) and the
“total sum of folk achievements”. The Society did not mean to impose any direction,
but it always wished to support “sincere talent and sincere pursuit of distinctiveness”.
Assurances were madę that the association favoured both the artists who “develop
folk motifs” and those who create new-fangled forms. Individuality, diversity and
distinctiveness were to be the path to Polish art. Warchałowski wrote about the
foundations necessary for the creation of national art: “It can only happen if it grows
out of the main stem of the nation, when it is consistent with its spirit and its needs,
when it is its pride and glory, as opposed to everything that is created elsewhere, in
short, when it possesses the most outstanding of all advantages - that is, distinc-
tiveness.” In order to uphold this multiplicity of creative attitudes, one should “care
for the greatest possible decentralization of art, the greatest possible differentiation
of creativity, searching for and nurturing as many as possible sources thereof”.27
26 Library ofthe Academy ofFine Arts in Kraków, portfolio of Jerzy Warchałowski, symbol 20029,
U sekretarza Towarzystwa „Polska Sztuka Stosowana”, “Kuryer Codzienny”, 14 October 1901,
issue 285, p. 10.
27 Katalog nowożytnych tkanin i wyrobów ceramicznych, Kraków 1905, p. 42.
“Artistic thought” which permeated “common taverns”...
145
furniture madę up a large portion of the equipment of noble manors, which at the
beginning of the twentieth century became the ideał of a Polish home. Incidentally,
the tpss played a part in popularizing the manor-house forms: the Society organ-
ized the competition in Opinogóra; it reproduced photographs and drawings of
manor houses in its magazine “Materiały tpss”; and organized an exhibition of
wooden architecture (Kraków, 1905). The culmination of these tpss activities was
the co-organization of the exhibition of architecture and interiors in garden sur-
roundings, in Kraków in 1912. The artists from the tpss circle, who were drawing
from the forms and decorations of Biedermeier furniture, designed the furniture
in which - as in the case of restaurants in the Stary Teatr - they often combined
it with folk motifs or, on the contrary, they simplified the shapes and eliminated
the ornaments. As an example of the revival of the Biedermeier style in the Polish
furniture making of the early twentieth century, we might also quote further ex-
amples: a suitę of furniture for the dining room of Władysław Reymont, designed
by Czajkowski; a living room suitę in a suburban manor house designed by Tichy;
and a dining room suitę, also in a manor house, designed by Uziembło.
The most marginal trend in the interiors of the Stary Teatr is the geometrical-
modernist tendency, characterized by the rejection of ornamentation, the simplifica-
tion of form, and making the impact primarily by virtue of the beauty of the materiał
itself. This is visible in the discussed interior only in the furniture of Dąbrowas
design. This tendency has also been combined with decorations (kilim rugs and
polychrome painting) in which the influence of folk ornaments is visible.
This multiplicity of inspirations, and binding them together in one single object,
as well as in one single interior, was the result of the views on the national style held
by the tpss. In the Society s circle it was commonly believed that “the elements
of artistic uniqueness exist both in our history and in the distinctive, individual
creations by some Polish artists, as well as in the self-made creation of the people”.26
According to Warchałowski, national art consists of two elements: “individual talent
of the most gifted sons of the nation” (both professional and folk artists) and the
“total sum of folk achievements”. The Society did not mean to impose any direction,
but it always wished to support “sincere talent and sincere pursuit of distinctiveness”.
Assurances were madę that the association favoured both the artists who “develop
folk motifs” and those who create new-fangled forms. Individuality, diversity and
distinctiveness were to be the path to Polish art. Warchałowski wrote about the
foundations necessary for the creation of national art: “It can only happen if it grows
out of the main stem of the nation, when it is consistent with its spirit and its needs,
when it is its pride and glory, as opposed to everything that is created elsewhere, in
short, when it possesses the most outstanding of all advantages - that is, distinc-
tiveness.” In order to uphold this multiplicity of creative attitudes, one should “care
for the greatest possible decentralization of art, the greatest possible differentiation
of creativity, searching for and nurturing as many as possible sources thereof”.27
26 Library ofthe Academy ofFine Arts in Kraków, portfolio of Jerzy Warchałowski, symbol 20029,
U sekretarza Towarzystwa „Polska Sztuka Stosowana”, “Kuryer Codzienny”, 14 October 1901,
issue 285, p. 10.
27 Katalog nowożytnych tkanin i wyrobów ceramicznych, Kraków 1905, p. 42.
“Artistic thought” which permeated “common taverns”...
145