DOI Heft:
I. Po śmierci Jana Białostockiego: Wspomnienia i nekrologi
DOI Artikel:Skubiszewski, Piotr; Białostocki, Jan [Gefeierte Pers.]; Białostocki, Jan [Bearb.]: Jan Białostocki - obituary
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19643#0124
Białostocki's enormous output of books and articles — amounting to over five hundred
titles — covers almost all the most important problems and subjects in the history and theory
of art from the fifteenth to the twentieth century, and is informed by two principal intellectual
strands: the first is the rigorous philosophical training he received from Tadeusz Kotarbiński
and Władysław Tatarkiewicz in epistemology, aesthetics and art theory, and the other the
influence of Michał Walicki who taught him art history at the University and was also a
curator at the National Museum. It was Walicki — a connoisseur of rare sensibility — who
initiated Białostocki into the world of museums and helped lay the foundations of his deep
understanding of all aspects of the study of original works of art.
Białostockie interest in the conceptual side of art history can be seen in his fundamental
works on the historical evolution of terms such as Mannerism, the Baroąue, late gothic and
rococo. His analysis of iconography and iconology constitutes by far the best exposition both
of these two concepts and of the method of Erwin Panofsky. It was Białostocki who
introduced that useful phrase "encompassing theme" into art-historical discourse, and his
account of the differences between "style" and "modus" made a lasting contribution to the
theoretical foundations of art history. In his lectures given at the College de France in 1978 he
undertook the particularly delicate task of defending the history of art as one of the
humanistic disciplines of our age, and this manifesto, which was particularly remarkable for
the spirit of intllectual synthesis which lay behind it, remains unparalleled among discussions
about the development of the discipline. It also reveals Białostockie standpoint on the
conflict between diverging methodologies: he preferred to understand and describe rather
than to draw firm conclusions. His concern with the discipline and its methods was
accompanied by a systematic study of past-theories of art; this lies behind his series of critical
editions of the writings of Leonardo, Poussin, Diirer, Fromentin, Baldinucci and Chantelou,
his anthology of writing on art before 1500, and his monographic articles on Bellori,
Sandrart, Bernini and others. Białostockie interest in iconography went far beyond the
theoretical. His interpretation of Rembrandt's subjects, and of political themes in the works
of the Romantic painters marked a turning point in research in these two fields.
But despite his careful scrutiny of intellectual processes accompanying human creation,
Białostocki always remained devoted to the individual work of art and the traditional
concerns of the art historian. Initially, the subjects he treated were largely determined by his
work in the museum: articles dealing with single paintings or artists, catalogues of the
collection and of exhibitions, and later the impressive Polish volume of the corpus of Primitifs
Flamands. Very early on, exhibitions became a focal point of his activities in the Museum, and
he organised a total of seven, several of which were international in scope — such as those on
Venetian painting from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries, and on the birth of modern
landscape. His interests embraced all forms of artistic expression, far beyond the scope of
traditional museum studies, and he was an indefatigable traveller to far-flund monuments:
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titles — covers almost all the most important problems and subjects in the history and theory
of art from the fifteenth to the twentieth century, and is informed by two principal intellectual
strands: the first is the rigorous philosophical training he received from Tadeusz Kotarbiński
and Władysław Tatarkiewicz in epistemology, aesthetics and art theory, and the other the
influence of Michał Walicki who taught him art history at the University and was also a
curator at the National Museum. It was Walicki — a connoisseur of rare sensibility — who
initiated Białostocki into the world of museums and helped lay the foundations of his deep
understanding of all aspects of the study of original works of art.
Białostockie interest in the conceptual side of art history can be seen in his fundamental
works on the historical evolution of terms such as Mannerism, the Baroąue, late gothic and
rococo. His analysis of iconography and iconology constitutes by far the best exposition both
of these two concepts and of the method of Erwin Panofsky. It was Białostocki who
introduced that useful phrase "encompassing theme" into art-historical discourse, and his
account of the differences between "style" and "modus" made a lasting contribution to the
theoretical foundations of art history. In his lectures given at the College de France in 1978 he
undertook the particularly delicate task of defending the history of art as one of the
humanistic disciplines of our age, and this manifesto, which was particularly remarkable for
the spirit of intllectual synthesis which lay behind it, remains unparalleled among discussions
about the development of the discipline. It also reveals Białostockie standpoint on the
conflict between diverging methodologies: he preferred to understand and describe rather
than to draw firm conclusions. His concern with the discipline and its methods was
accompanied by a systematic study of past-theories of art; this lies behind his series of critical
editions of the writings of Leonardo, Poussin, Diirer, Fromentin, Baldinucci and Chantelou,
his anthology of writing on art before 1500, and his monographic articles on Bellori,
Sandrart, Bernini and others. Białostockie interest in iconography went far beyond the
theoretical. His interpretation of Rembrandt's subjects, and of political themes in the works
of the Romantic painters marked a turning point in research in these two fields.
But despite his careful scrutiny of intellectual processes accompanying human creation,
Białostocki always remained devoted to the individual work of art and the traditional
concerns of the art historian. Initially, the subjects he treated were largely determined by his
work in the museum: articles dealing with single paintings or artists, catalogues of the
collection and of exhibitions, and later the impressive Polish volume of the corpus of Primitifs
Flamands. Very early on, exhibitions became a focal point of his activities in the Museum, and
he organised a total of seven, several of which were international in scope — such as those on
Venetian painting from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries, and on the birth of modern
landscape. His interests embraced all forms of artistic expression, far beyond the scope of
traditional museum studies, and he was an indefatigable traveller to far-flund monuments:
120