DOI Artikel:
Kaufmann, Thomas DaCosta: Adam Miłobędzki, mapping and the geography of art
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14574#0028
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THOMAS DACOSTA KAUFMANN
reviving and reformulating discussion of its topics5. Artistic geography has been reconsidered more recently
in an essay by Janusz S. Kębłowski6 and by the participants in a joint Anglo-Polish conférence devoted to
"revisiting Kunstgeo graphie"1. Thinking about the geography of art, however, has a longer history in Poland,
as it does elsewhere: indeed one may trace it back to the anonymous seventeenth-century author, perhaps
Łukasz Opaliński, who wrote the first architectural treatise in Poland, the Krótka nauka budownicza8. This
book bore as a part of its title the phrase podług nieba i zwyczaju polskiego, and it is fair to say that this
treatise incorporated early modern ideas about artistic geography, especially concerning the use of materials
appropriate to Polish climate and topography9.
Podług nieba i zwyczaju polskiego was also the title chosen for the "Festschrift" devoted to Miłobędzki
in 1988'°. The choice of this title seems more than apt, not just because Miłobędzki had edited the older
Polish treatise. Thèmes enunciated in the seventeenth-century text, including attention to local materials, are
woven along with similar discussions throughout Miłobędzki's writings". In this sense Miłobędzki may also
be regarded to have reckoned that geographical considérations were among the keys to the history of art and
architecture.
Hence we are led to a reconsideration of the role of maps and mapping in his work. One may speculate
that an interest in mapping might seem natural for Polish scholars, because Poland's borders have changed
so frequently, and because Poland literally disappeared from the map for 123 years. Historical atlases are
certainly frequently produced for and in Poland12. The maps in Miłobędzki's books might also simply be
seen as fulfilling a practical purpose. But mapping has a more generał importance for considérations of
history and culture, and a central place in approaches to the geography of art.
Неге one is reminded of the dictum of the French nineteenth-century historian Jules Michelet: "Histoire
est d'abord toute géographie" (History is first of ail entirely geography)13. Michelet deployed this expression
to epitomize the thème of the tableau he presented in his great Histoire de France. Michelet's tableau was
a descriptive map of France that he provided as a basis for discussion of the role that various French régions
had played in its history. While Michelet's map may have been metaphorical, mapping is manifestly much
more than a mere metaphor. Maps supply a visual instrument to impose meaning on the world. Hence the
making of actual, and not just mental maps à la Michelet, has also long engaged scholarship in many fields.
Post-modern thinking of the past years has called further intention to the way that mapping belongs to more
than cartography; it shapes many discourses. This is the message of Geoff King's Mapping Realityu.
A collection with the title Mappings edited by the geographer Denis Cosgrove also suggests how maps serve
to order and represent not only the physical but the social and imaginative worlds.
The view that human society and culture were defined according to geography has often been evinced
in the writing of history, and indeed since Michelet geography has remained a current in French historiography.
It was discussed explicitly by Lucien Febvre' \ More recently, Fernand Braudel provides an important example
3 See for example most expressly: J. Białostocki, The Baltic Area as an Artistic Region in the Si.xteenth Century, "Haf-
nia" 1976, pp. 11-23, and Some Values of Artistic Periphery, [in:] Thèmes of World Art, ed. I. L a v i n et al., vol. 1. pp. 6-11.
Thèmes of artistic geography are however discussed in many of Bialostocki's publications.
6J.S. Kębłowski, Kilka uwag na temat badań tzw. geografii sztuki, [in:] Sztuka pograniczy Rzeczypospolitej w okresie
nowożytnym od XVI do XVIII wieku, Warszawa 1998, pp. 25—44.
7 See: Borders in Art. Revisiting Kunstgeographie (Proceedings of the Fourth Joint Conférence of Polish and English Art
Historians, University of East Anglia, Norwich, 1998), ed. K. M u r a w s к а - M u t h e s i u s, Warszawa 2000.
8 Krótka nauka budownicza dworów, pałaców, zamków podług nieba i zwyczaju polskiego, wyd. A. Miłobędzki. Wrocław
1957.
9 See for this point: T. D а С o s t а К a u f m a n n. Early Modern Ideas about Artistic Geography Related to the Baltic
Region, "Scandinavian Journal of History", 28, 2003, pp. 269-270.
10 Podług nieba i zwyczaju polskiego. Studia z historii architektur,' sztuki i kultury ofiarowane Adamowi Miłobędzkiemu,
ed. Z. Ba n i a et a 1., Warszawa 1988.
11 See for example A. Miłobędzki, Architecture in Wood: Technology, Svmbolism, Content, Art. 'Artibus et historiae'", 19.
1989, pp. 177-206, and the comments [in:] Architektura ziem Polski: rozdział europejskiego dziedzictwa/The Architecture of Po-
land: A Chapter of the European Héritage, Kraków 1994.
12 See for example: Atlas historyczny Polski, ed. W. Cz a p 1 i ń s к i et a 1.. Warszawa-Wrocław 1967: P.R. M a g о с s i,
Historical Atlas of East Central Europe, Toronto 1993.
13 J. Michelet, Histoire de France, Paris 1867, vol. 2, p. 2.
14 G. К i n g, Mapping Reality. An Exploration of Cultural Cartographie s, New York 1996.
lL. Febvre, M. Bataillon, La terre et l'évolution humaine: introduction géographique à l'histoire. Paris 1922.
THOMAS DACOSTA KAUFMANN
reviving and reformulating discussion of its topics5. Artistic geography has been reconsidered more recently
in an essay by Janusz S. Kębłowski6 and by the participants in a joint Anglo-Polish conférence devoted to
"revisiting Kunstgeo graphie"1. Thinking about the geography of art, however, has a longer history in Poland,
as it does elsewhere: indeed one may trace it back to the anonymous seventeenth-century author, perhaps
Łukasz Opaliński, who wrote the first architectural treatise in Poland, the Krótka nauka budownicza8. This
book bore as a part of its title the phrase podług nieba i zwyczaju polskiego, and it is fair to say that this
treatise incorporated early modern ideas about artistic geography, especially concerning the use of materials
appropriate to Polish climate and topography9.
Podług nieba i zwyczaju polskiego was also the title chosen for the "Festschrift" devoted to Miłobędzki
in 1988'°. The choice of this title seems more than apt, not just because Miłobędzki had edited the older
Polish treatise. Thèmes enunciated in the seventeenth-century text, including attention to local materials, are
woven along with similar discussions throughout Miłobędzki's writings". In this sense Miłobędzki may also
be regarded to have reckoned that geographical considérations were among the keys to the history of art and
architecture.
Hence we are led to a reconsideration of the role of maps and mapping in his work. One may speculate
that an interest in mapping might seem natural for Polish scholars, because Poland's borders have changed
so frequently, and because Poland literally disappeared from the map for 123 years. Historical atlases are
certainly frequently produced for and in Poland12. The maps in Miłobędzki's books might also simply be
seen as fulfilling a practical purpose. But mapping has a more generał importance for considérations of
history and culture, and a central place in approaches to the geography of art.
Неге one is reminded of the dictum of the French nineteenth-century historian Jules Michelet: "Histoire
est d'abord toute géographie" (History is first of ail entirely geography)13. Michelet deployed this expression
to epitomize the thème of the tableau he presented in his great Histoire de France. Michelet's tableau was
a descriptive map of France that he provided as a basis for discussion of the role that various French régions
had played in its history. While Michelet's map may have been metaphorical, mapping is manifestly much
more than a mere metaphor. Maps supply a visual instrument to impose meaning on the world. Hence the
making of actual, and not just mental maps à la Michelet, has also long engaged scholarship in many fields.
Post-modern thinking of the past years has called further intention to the way that mapping belongs to more
than cartography; it shapes many discourses. This is the message of Geoff King's Mapping Realityu.
A collection with the title Mappings edited by the geographer Denis Cosgrove also suggests how maps serve
to order and represent not only the physical but the social and imaginative worlds.
The view that human society and culture were defined according to geography has often been evinced
in the writing of history, and indeed since Michelet geography has remained a current in French historiography.
It was discussed explicitly by Lucien Febvre' \ More recently, Fernand Braudel provides an important example
3 See for example most expressly: J. Białostocki, The Baltic Area as an Artistic Region in the Si.xteenth Century, "Haf-
nia" 1976, pp. 11-23, and Some Values of Artistic Periphery, [in:] Thèmes of World Art, ed. I. L a v i n et al., vol. 1. pp. 6-11.
Thèmes of artistic geography are however discussed in many of Bialostocki's publications.
6J.S. Kębłowski, Kilka uwag na temat badań tzw. geografii sztuki, [in:] Sztuka pograniczy Rzeczypospolitej w okresie
nowożytnym od XVI do XVIII wieku, Warszawa 1998, pp. 25—44.
7 See: Borders in Art. Revisiting Kunstgeographie (Proceedings of the Fourth Joint Conférence of Polish and English Art
Historians, University of East Anglia, Norwich, 1998), ed. K. M u r a w s к а - M u t h e s i u s, Warszawa 2000.
8 Krótka nauka budownicza dworów, pałaców, zamków podług nieba i zwyczaju polskiego, wyd. A. Miłobędzki. Wrocław
1957.
9 See for this point: T. D а С o s t а К a u f m a n n. Early Modern Ideas about Artistic Geography Related to the Baltic
Region, "Scandinavian Journal of History", 28, 2003, pp. 269-270.
10 Podług nieba i zwyczaju polskiego. Studia z historii architektur,' sztuki i kultury ofiarowane Adamowi Miłobędzkiemu,
ed. Z. Ba n i a et a 1., Warszawa 1988.
11 See for example A. Miłobędzki, Architecture in Wood: Technology, Svmbolism, Content, Art. 'Artibus et historiae'", 19.
1989, pp. 177-206, and the comments [in:] Architektura ziem Polski: rozdział europejskiego dziedzictwa/The Architecture of Po-
land: A Chapter of the European Héritage, Kraków 1994.
12 See for example: Atlas historyczny Polski, ed. W. Cz a p 1 i ń s к i et a 1.. Warszawa-Wrocław 1967: P.R. M a g о с s i,
Historical Atlas of East Central Europe, Toronto 1993.
13 J. Michelet, Histoire de France, Paris 1867, vol. 2, p. 2.
14 G. К i n g, Mapping Reality. An Exploration of Cultural Cartographie s, New York 1996.
lL. Febvre, M. Bataillon, La terre et l'évolution humaine: introduction géographique à l'histoire. Paris 1922.