DOI Heft:
Wprodwadzenie / Introduction
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45360#0016
12
Introduction
It was Professor Jan Białostocki, an internationally recognized art historian, who created
a second, radically different museum publication in i960. The Bulletin’s modest and slender
notebooks, planned as a quarterly but often published less often as double issues, contrasted
with Rocznik’s traditional, “heavy” form, bound in canvas, its dust jackets imitating hand-made
paper. It was only in its last decade that the Bulletin adopted a showier format. It was a foreign-
language publication, at first primarily French and later English; some articles appeared in
Italian or German to suit a subject or an author’s language. Over the years, more than 200
articles about individual works of art, collections and groups of historical objects from the
museum’s holdings or having a link to works in its collections appeared in it. Thanks to the
Bulletin editor’s widespread contacts, writers from outside Poland contributed to it signi-
ficantly. Despite its coarse format and inferior illustrations, as well as the unpredictability
of its publication dates in the Communist era, Bulletin was present in the libraries of all the
important museums and cultural institutions across Europe and the world, was acquired by
subscription or subscription exchanges and served as the main source of information about
the National Museum in Warsaw and its collections. Even though its last issue appeared in
2009, libraries outside Poland continue to ask about it.
In choosing to resume our predecessors’ work after this long break, and wanting to com-
bine the best features of Rocznik and Bulletin, we needed to decide what form this new pe-
riodical would take. After intensive discussions we adopted the title Journal of the National
Museum in Warsaw. New Series and determined that it would be bilingual, Polish-English, and
appear as a single volume. We also created a Research Committee, whose members will serve
as reviewers for submissions and commission articles. Raport Roczny Muzeum Narodowego
w Warszawie [Annual Report of the National Museum in Warsaw] will take over reporting on
the museum’s current activities and appear separately.
Let me introduce to you the first in the new series of the Journal and to invite you to con-
tribute to it, whetheryou are an art historian, a conservator or a specialist in another discipline
wanting to share the results of your research and your reflections about subjects relevant to
the collections of the National Museum in Warsaw, issues in conservation or topics in con-
temporary museum affairs.
Agnieszka Morawihska
DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM IN WARSAW
Introduction
It was Professor Jan Białostocki, an internationally recognized art historian, who created
a second, radically different museum publication in i960. The Bulletin’s modest and slender
notebooks, planned as a quarterly but often published less often as double issues, contrasted
with Rocznik’s traditional, “heavy” form, bound in canvas, its dust jackets imitating hand-made
paper. It was only in its last decade that the Bulletin adopted a showier format. It was a foreign-
language publication, at first primarily French and later English; some articles appeared in
Italian or German to suit a subject or an author’s language. Over the years, more than 200
articles about individual works of art, collections and groups of historical objects from the
museum’s holdings or having a link to works in its collections appeared in it. Thanks to the
Bulletin editor’s widespread contacts, writers from outside Poland contributed to it signi-
ficantly. Despite its coarse format and inferior illustrations, as well as the unpredictability
of its publication dates in the Communist era, Bulletin was present in the libraries of all the
important museums and cultural institutions across Europe and the world, was acquired by
subscription or subscription exchanges and served as the main source of information about
the National Museum in Warsaw and its collections. Even though its last issue appeared in
2009, libraries outside Poland continue to ask about it.
In choosing to resume our predecessors’ work after this long break, and wanting to com-
bine the best features of Rocznik and Bulletin, we needed to decide what form this new pe-
riodical would take. After intensive discussions we adopted the title Journal of the National
Museum in Warsaw. New Series and determined that it would be bilingual, Polish-English, and
appear as a single volume. We also created a Research Committee, whose members will serve
as reviewers for submissions and commission articles. Raport Roczny Muzeum Narodowego
w Warszawie [Annual Report of the National Museum in Warsaw] will take over reporting on
the museum’s current activities and appear separately.
Let me introduce to you the first in the new series of the Journal and to invite you to con-
tribute to it, whetheryou are an art historian, a conservator or a specialist in another discipline
wanting to share the results of your research and your reflections about subjects relevant to
the collections of the National Museum in Warsaw, issues in conservation or topics in con-
temporary museum affairs.
Agnieszka Morawihska
DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM IN WARSAW