DOI article:
Wójcik, Agata: Inspiracje sztuką ludową w meblarstwie artystów kręgu Towarzystwa Polska Sztuka Stosowana
Citation link:https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/modus2020/0233
The tpss also intended to set up drawing schools and experimental workshops
in the countryside.19 However, the idea was never implemented, and permanent
collaboration was established only with the kilim tapestry workshop of Antonina
Sikorska in Czernichów, where rural weavers madę kilims based on the designs
of artists linked with the Society20 As Warchałowski emphasized, folk artists
“should be handled with extreme care [...]. The simplicity of life, the close and
constant contact with naturę, the free effort solely to satisfy one’s own needs,
create this peculiar charm that emanates from the entire environment in which
the morę artistic rural families are living.” He considered attempts to “improve”
and “ennoble” folk crafts to be unacceptable. He believed that folk artists needed
custodians who would respect their work, and he outlined a plan for action: “to
go out to the country, to get to know the people, to learn about their creative
qualities, to find the most talented craftsmen, to provide them with special care
and - while not changing too much their living conditions and domestic work -
to facilitate that work by providing technical means and outlets.”21
The audience quickly began to link the activities of the Society with sup-
porting and promoting folk art. People unfamiliar with the ideas of the Soci-
ety believed that “the aim of the ‘Polish applied arf was to squeeze the entire
relevant branch of artistic creativity into the forms of folk motifs,”22 even that
“young art began to create dogmas for itself out of the parzenica [heart-shaped
folk pattern], the paper cutting crafts, the wooden chest with painted flowers.”23
Others believed that according to the tpss, motifs derived from Zakopane were
simply to be replaced with ornaments from other parts of the country, which
was also not true. Warchałowski, the Society s chief theorist, suspected that these
opinions were the result of focusing on the presentation and collection of folk
art at the initial stage of his organisations activity24
However, the Society did not see the folk art of the country s various regions
as a simple key to the national style. Warchałowski wrote on this subject: “Let
every sincere artist be permitted to create freely, regardless of whether he de-
velops a beautiful and finished Zakopane folk style, or draws inspiration from
the Bronowice and Łowicz motifs, or offers new forms.”25 The path to Polish
art should lead through distinctiveness, diversity, and individuality. In order
to maintain this multiplicity of creative attitudes, according to Warchałowski,
one should “care for the greatest possible decentralization of art, the greatest
differentiation of creativity, seeking and nurturing as many of its sources as
19 Library of Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, The Warchałowski Portfolio (Biblioteka Akademii
Sztuki Pięknych w Krakowie, Teki Jerzego Warchałowskiego, further: basprk, tw), ref. 20029,
p. 10, L.P., U sekretarza Towarzystwa “Polska Sztuka Stosowana”,“Kurier Codzienny”, 14 x 1901,
no. 285 (?).
20 See: I. Goldman, Kilimy Józefa Mehoffera, “Biuletyn Historii Sztuki”, 71,2009, no. 3, pp. 389-399.
21 A. Chołoniewski, Polska Sztuka Stosowana, “Świat”, 1906, no. 9, pp. 14-16; see: J. Warchałowski,
Towarzystwo “Polska sztuka stosowana”, in: Katalog wystawy nowożytnych tkanin i wyrobów
ceramicznych, Kraków 1905, pp. 42-43.
22 A. Chołoniewski, Polska Sztuka Stosowana, p. 14.
23 baspke, tw, ref. 20029, pp. 198-199, S. Popowski, Sztuka stosowana, “Gazeta Codzienna”,
1908.
24 J. Warchałowski, Polska sztuka dekoracyjna, Warszawa-Kraków 1928, p. 17.
25 Idem, O sztuce stosowanej, “Czas”, 1904, no. 131, pp. 1-2; idem, O sztuce stosowanej, “Czas” 1904,
no. 132, pp. 1-2.
Folk art inspirations in the furniture...
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in the countryside.19 However, the idea was never implemented, and permanent
collaboration was established only with the kilim tapestry workshop of Antonina
Sikorska in Czernichów, where rural weavers madę kilims based on the designs
of artists linked with the Society20 As Warchałowski emphasized, folk artists
“should be handled with extreme care [...]. The simplicity of life, the close and
constant contact with naturę, the free effort solely to satisfy one’s own needs,
create this peculiar charm that emanates from the entire environment in which
the morę artistic rural families are living.” He considered attempts to “improve”
and “ennoble” folk crafts to be unacceptable. He believed that folk artists needed
custodians who would respect their work, and he outlined a plan for action: “to
go out to the country, to get to know the people, to learn about their creative
qualities, to find the most talented craftsmen, to provide them with special care
and - while not changing too much their living conditions and domestic work -
to facilitate that work by providing technical means and outlets.”21
The audience quickly began to link the activities of the Society with sup-
porting and promoting folk art. People unfamiliar with the ideas of the Soci-
ety believed that “the aim of the ‘Polish applied arf was to squeeze the entire
relevant branch of artistic creativity into the forms of folk motifs,”22 even that
“young art began to create dogmas for itself out of the parzenica [heart-shaped
folk pattern], the paper cutting crafts, the wooden chest with painted flowers.”23
Others believed that according to the tpss, motifs derived from Zakopane were
simply to be replaced with ornaments from other parts of the country, which
was also not true. Warchałowski, the Society s chief theorist, suspected that these
opinions were the result of focusing on the presentation and collection of folk
art at the initial stage of his organisations activity24
However, the Society did not see the folk art of the country s various regions
as a simple key to the national style. Warchałowski wrote on this subject: “Let
every sincere artist be permitted to create freely, regardless of whether he de-
velops a beautiful and finished Zakopane folk style, or draws inspiration from
the Bronowice and Łowicz motifs, or offers new forms.”25 The path to Polish
art should lead through distinctiveness, diversity, and individuality. In order
to maintain this multiplicity of creative attitudes, according to Warchałowski,
one should “care for the greatest possible decentralization of art, the greatest
differentiation of creativity, seeking and nurturing as many of its sources as
19 Library of Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, The Warchałowski Portfolio (Biblioteka Akademii
Sztuki Pięknych w Krakowie, Teki Jerzego Warchałowskiego, further: basprk, tw), ref. 20029,
p. 10, L.P., U sekretarza Towarzystwa “Polska Sztuka Stosowana”,“Kurier Codzienny”, 14 x 1901,
no. 285 (?).
20 See: I. Goldman, Kilimy Józefa Mehoffera, “Biuletyn Historii Sztuki”, 71,2009, no. 3, pp. 389-399.
21 A. Chołoniewski, Polska Sztuka Stosowana, “Świat”, 1906, no. 9, pp. 14-16; see: J. Warchałowski,
Towarzystwo “Polska sztuka stosowana”, in: Katalog wystawy nowożytnych tkanin i wyrobów
ceramicznych, Kraków 1905, pp. 42-43.
22 A. Chołoniewski, Polska Sztuka Stosowana, p. 14.
23 baspke, tw, ref. 20029, pp. 198-199, S. Popowski, Sztuka stosowana, “Gazeta Codzienna”,
1908.
24 J. Warchałowski, Polska sztuka dekoracyjna, Warszawa-Kraków 1928, p. 17.
25 Idem, O sztuce stosowanej, “Czas”, 1904, no. 131, pp. 1-2; idem, O sztuce stosowanej, “Czas” 1904,
no. 132, pp. 1-2.
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