DOI article:
Wójcik, Agata: Inspiracje sztuką ludową w meblarstwie artystów kręgu Towarzystwa Polska Sztuka Stosowana
Citation link:https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/modus2020/0240
in a different tonę. Adolf Nowaczyński wrote approvingly:“[...] the whole exhibi-
tion proves that the Applied Art has already emerged from the rooster’ phase, from
the forced breaking down of its products with folk elements taken from chests,
aprons, spoon racks, directly and with excess. The mania of Zakopane style also
cooled down a bit. Currently, motifs taken from the abundant decorative materials
of folk art are successfully selected, completely digested, and transformed.”56
The interaction and inspiration with folk art initially allowed Polish furniture
designers to enrich their rangę of ornaments, to experiment with the colours
of the furniture and, above all, to simplify their form. Undoubtedly, this afforded
them the opportunity to give Polish furniture the distinctiveness that tpss was
trying to achieve. The artists also quickly understood that the task of folk art is
to create an atmosphere that would enable “the awakening [...] of the national
instinct in creative artists whose works, although seemingly dissimilar to folk
art, would be spiritually much morę akin thereto than the mere dry compilations
of folk art motifs.”57 Therefore, the designers moved away from literally quoting
folk ornaments, focusing instead on the simplicity of the form and the truth of the
materiał. The projects by artists such as Wyspiański or Rembowski already he-
ralded the futurę ideas of the Warsztaty Krakowskie (Kraków Workshops), whose
artists did not strive to create a new style at all cost, but were driven by the desire
to create functional things, to learn about materials and techniques. This is how
the style of their furniture was summarised by Irena Huml, the monographer
of the Society: “It was characterized by the use of a compact body, not devoid
of ornaments, often geometrized in contrast to Art Nouveau softness. These forms
resulted from processing consistent with the properties of the materiał and tools
used for this purpose, and striving for unpretentiousness and functionalism, while
maintaining the characteristics of ‘familiarity’. Therefore, in timber products, and
mainly in furniture, there is a elear inspiration in rural woodcarving. There was
a predominance of hard lines, hewn shapes, ornaments resembling those cut with
a primitive tool.”58 •
56 A. Nowaczyński, Sztuka stosowana w Warszawie, “Prawda”, 1908, no. 6, pp. 69-70.
57 J. Warchałowski, Polska sztuka dekoracyjna, p. 18.
58 I. Huml, Polska sztuka stosowana xx wieku, Warszawa 1978, p. 61; see: eadem, Warsztaty Kra-
kowskie, Wrocław 1973.
240
ARTICLES
Agata Wójcik
tion proves that the Applied Art has already emerged from the rooster’ phase, from
the forced breaking down of its products with folk elements taken from chests,
aprons, spoon racks, directly and with excess. The mania of Zakopane style also
cooled down a bit. Currently, motifs taken from the abundant decorative materials
of folk art are successfully selected, completely digested, and transformed.”56
The interaction and inspiration with folk art initially allowed Polish furniture
designers to enrich their rangę of ornaments, to experiment with the colours
of the furniture and, above all, to simplify their form. Undoubtedly, this afforded
them the opportunity to give Polish furniture the distinctiveness that tpss was
trying to achieve. The artists also quickly understood that the task of folk art is
to create an atmosphere that would enable “the awakening [...] of the national
instinct in creative artists whose works, although seemingly dissimilar to folk
art, would be spiritually much morę akin thereto than the mere dry compilations
of folk art motifs.”57 Therefore, the designers moved away from literally quoting
folk ornaments, focusing instead on the simplicity of the form and the truth of the
materiał. The projects by artists such as Wyspiański or Rembowski already he-
ralded the futurę ideas of the Warsztaty Krakowskie (Kraków Workshops), whose
artists did not strive to create a new style at all cost, but were driven by the desire
to create functional things, to learn about materials and techniques. This is how
the style of their furniture was summarised by Irena Huml, the monographer
of the Society: “It was characterized by the use of a compact body, not devoid
of ornaments, often geometrized in contrast to Art Nouveau softness. These forms
resulted from processing consistent with the properties of the materiał and tools
used for this purpose, and striving for unpretentiousness and functionalism, while
maintaining the characteristics of ‘familiarity’. Therefore, in timber products, and
mainly in furniture, there is a elear inspiration in rural woodcarving. There was
a predominance of hard lines, hewn shapes, ornaments resembling those cut with
a primitive tool.”58 •
56 A. Nowaczyński, Sztuka stosowana w Warszawie, “Prawda”, 1908, no. 6, pp. 69-70.
57 J. Warchałowski, Polska sztuka dekoracyjna, p. 18.
58 I. Huml, Polska sztuka stosowana xx wieku, Warszawa 1978, p. 61; see: eadem, Warsztaty Kra-
kowskie, Wrocław 1973.
240
ARTICLES
Agata Wójcik