DOI article:
Wójcik, Agata: Inspiracje sztuką ludową w meblarstwie artystów kręgu Towarzystwa Polska Sztuka Stosowana
Citation link:https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/modus2020/0239
living room appealed to the viewer with the form of the furniture, its natural
materiał, and a contrasting combination of colours.
In the context of the evolution of the views on folk art, the salon in the sana-
torium of Bronisława and Kazimierz Dłuski in Kościelisko near Zakopane may be
interesting, which also functions as a smali theatre stage, designed by Rembowski,
who himself was a patient at the health spa (see: Fig. 9). The artist kept the whole
interior - the linoleum floor, the upholstery on the furniture, and the walls - in
one shade of cold blue and grey. He designed sofas-benches, armchairs, and stools
with a very simple, classic form, with construction based on rectangular, square
and polygonal shapes. The designer abandoned decoration in many of these
pieces, and reduced it to stylized stars in others. On the walls, however, he placed
highlander parzenica ornament combined with peacock feathers. These almost
modernist objects did not contradict the iconographic message of the paintings
and stained glass Windows, referring to the legends of the Tatra Mountains region,
and did not distract the viewer from the phenomenal panorama of the Tatras
outside the window, but perfectly matched their monumentality.
Projects by artists associated with the tpss that were inspired by folk art - just
like the folk craftsmanship itself - have often met with negative opinions from
the critics. The reviews of the tpss exhibition in Zachęta in 1902 can serve as an
example. Representatives of the Zakopane style and artists from Kraków such as
Tetmajer, Trojanowski, Brzozowski, Bukowski and Tichy presented their furniture
and designs.52 Critics believed that the use of folk motifs was a mistake. They did
not understand why the artists wanted to “recreate this primitive and uncouth
art [...], the inept efforts of the notions of ornamentation” and strongly opposed
the use of folk motifs: “I am against hanging spoon racks’ and water scoops, not
to mention troughs, at the altars. Their proper place is in the cottage and the gra-
nary.”53 Other critics pointed out that the artists duplicated the folk motives too
literally. Kazimierz Broniewski went so far as to State that in the projects of art-
ists related to the tpss “you can see a strong slavish adherence to [folk - A.W]
prototypes, as if there was a certain fear of going further in the direction of their
development, in the pursuit of changing their primitive naturę to something morę
perfect, corresponding to the taste in already morę highly developed cultures.” In
his opinion, this passive copying of motifs was the product of the view that folk
motifs should be applied “to every object of our household use” resulting from
the fear of ancient and foreign styles with which every artist was burdened.54
Artists were advised to stylistically modify and adapt the folk ornaments, because
“they should not be concerned with the ‘apparent roughness and photographic
fidelity ’ of the motives of a given area, but with the ‘artistic recasting’ of the motifs
and ‘tuning them into the generał Polish vernacular’.”55
When in 1908 the tpss presented its achievements for the second time at
Zachęta gallery, and showed a coherent set of furnished interiors designed by
Tichy, Wojtyczko, Czajkowski, Wyspiański, and Trojanowski, references to folk art
in their furniture projects were few and very subtle. Critics reviewed this exhibition
52 Katalog 11-ej wystawy, p. 37.
53 Fr., Z teki humorystycznej. Sztuka ludowa i obiady u Bartłomiej owej,“Wiek Ilustrowany”, 1902,
no. 278, p. 4.
54 K. Broniewski, Z Towarzystwa Zachęty Sztuk Pięknych, pp. 349-360.
55 Styl polski, “Wędrowiec”, 1902, no. 44, p. 867.
9. Jan Rembowski, salon
at the Dłuski sanatorium
in Kościelisko, 1909-1910.
Photo from the collections
of the Cabinet of Engravings
of the Academy of Fine Arts
in Kraków
-> see p. 227
Folk art inspirations in the furniture...
239
materiał, and a contrasting combination of colours.
In the context of the evolution of the views on folk art, the salon in the sana-
torium of Bronisława and Kazimierz Dłuski in Kościelisko near Zakopane may be
interesting, which also functions as a smali theatre stage, designed by Rembowski,
who himself was a patient at the health spa (see: Fig. 9). The artist kept the whole
interior - the linoleum floor, the upholstery on the furniture, and the walls - in
one shade of cold blue and grey. He designed sofas-benches, armchairs, and stools
with a very simple, classic form, with construction based on rectangular, square
and polygonal shapes. The designer abandoned decoration in many of these
pieces, and reduced it to stylized stars in others. On the walls, however, he placed
highlander parzenica ornament combined with peacock feathers. These almost
modernist objects did not contradict the iconographic message of the paintings
and stained glass Windows, referring to the legends of the Tatra Mountains region,
and did not distract the viewer from the phenomenal panorama of the Tatras
outside the window, but perfectly matched their monumentality.
Projects by artists associated with the tpss that were inspired by folk art - just
like the folk craftsmanship itself - have often met with negative opinions from
the critics. The reviews of the tpss exhibition in Zachęta in 1902 can serve as an
example. Representatives of the Zakopane style and artists from Kraków such as
Tetmajer, Trojanowski, Brzozowski, Bukowski and Tichy presented their furniture
and designs.52 Critics believed that the use of folk motifs was a mistake. They did
not understand why the artists wanted to “recreate this primitive and uncouth
art [...], the inept efforts of the notions of ornamentation” and strongly opposed
the use of folk motifs: “I am against hanging spoon racks’ and water scoops, not
to mention troughs, at the altars. Their proper place is in the cottage and the gra-
nary.”53 Other critics pointed out that the artists duplicated the folk motives too
literally. Kazimierz Broniewski went so far as to State that in the projects of art-
ists related to the tpss “you can see a strong slavish adherence to [folk - A.W]
prototypes, as if there was a certain fear of going further in the direction of their
development, in the pursuit of changing their primitive naturę to something morę
perfect, corresponding to the taste in already morę highly developed cultures.” In
his opinion, this passive copying of motifs was the product of the view that folk
motifs should be applied “to every object of our household use” resulting from
the fear of ancient and foreign styles with which every artist was burdened.54
Artists were advised to stylistically modify and adapt the folk ornaments, because
“they should not be concerned with the ‘apparent roughness and photographic
fidelity ’ of the motives of a given area, but with the ‘artistic recasting’ of the motifs
and ‘tuning them into the generał Polish vernacular’.”55
When in 1908 the tpss presented its achievements for the second time at
Zachęta gallery, and showed a coherent set of furnished interiors designed by
Tichy, Wojtyczko, Czajkowski, Wyspiański, and Trojanowski, references to folk art
in their furniture projects were few and very subtle. Critics reviewed this exhibition
52 Katalog 11-ej wystawy, p. 37.
53 Fr., Z teki humorystycznej. Sztuka ludowa i obiady u Bartłomiej owej,“Wiek Ilustrowany”, 1902,
no. 278, p. 4.
54 K. Broniewski, Z Towarzystwa Zachęty Sztuk Pięknych, pp. 349-360.
55 Styl polski, “Wędrowiec”, 1902, no. 44, p. 867.
9. Jan Rembowski, salon
at the Dłuski sanatorium
in Kościelisko, 1909-1910.
Photo from the collections
of the Cabinet of Engravings
of the Academy of Fine Arts
in Kraków
-> see p. 227
Folk art inspirations in the furniture...
239