Artystki polskie i ich sztuka w latach 1900–1939. Cz. I. Nurt narodowej sztuki dekoracyjnej

Abstract

POLISH WOMEN ARTISTS AND THEIR ART IN THE PERIOD 1900–1939. PART I. NATIONAL DECORATIVE ART

Polish women gained access to national institutions of higher artistic education much later than their Russian or French fellow women artists. The newly established Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw was1 the first institution of that kind in Poland to grant women the right to study art (in 1904), and it was only in 1920 that women were admitted into the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków (earlier they were occasionally granted the status of unenrolled students there, that, however, happened very rarely). Until the moment women were admitted into the academies, their artistic education, similarly as in the 19th century, was limited to private tutoring, finishing schools and art educational institutions for girls abroad. For Polish women the situation changed after 1918. By the power of the Constitution of March 17, 1921, as citizens of the independent Polish state they had been granted equal rights, which meant they had the right to higher education, including the right to be admitted into art schools. As a result, a large group of professional women artists, technically very well prepared to work in any field of art started to emerge. However, despite the equality in terms of education, the art produced by women was still evidently different from that created by men. Battle scene painting, images portraying violence and erotic art with heavy pornographic content were among the genres which remained beyond women artists’ sphere of interest – these domains were reserved for men, and so were monumental art (murals, frescoes, monumental sculpture), architecture and interior design. At the same time women artists showed as much interest in formal experimentation as their male colleagues did. In the interwar period women became involved in all kinds of styles and artistic currents, from realism, through constructivism, geometric abstract art, to Art Déco and postimpressionism. They undertook formal experiments in various fields, used new techniques and unconventional media in painting, sculpture and graphic arts, and became particularly active in decorative and functional art. They were members of almost all artistic groups and associations which existed in Poland at that time (apart from the Polish Formists* group and the Tribe of the Haughty Heart**), and constituted from 10 to 20 per cent of all members. However, art historians tend to underestimate women artists’ artistic contribution to the overall output of such groups, or even – which happens much more frequently – fail to mention their presence at all. The rare exceptions to that rule are made for the unquestionable leaders, and even that is not always the case. The largest group of women artists became involved in decorative art – an artistic current which since the famous Les années 25 exhibition in Paris (1966) has been known as Art Déco. Polish women artists were co-creators and members of all the artistic co-ops, associations, workshops and groups which operated within that trend, and it seems it was precisely in that area of art that they felt most comfortable. No other artistic trend – either in the interwar, or in the postwar period – proved to be as popular with eminent Polish women artists, and in no other field were Polish women equally successful as designers, heads of artistic workshops and members of decision-making bodies. We must assume that women artists felt most confident and comfortable in that field because women’s associations with artistic trends influenced by folk and amateur art were particularly strong and justifiable. Tradition had always situated the forms of women’s artistic expression in the sphere of amateur and folk art, which seemed perfectly logical, considering the fact that women used to decorate and embellish various aspects of their families’ everyday life since time immemorial and artistic crafts were thought to be women’s domain. Women artists played an extremely important role in the development of the decorative trend in art in the interwar period. The most eminent female representatives of Art Déco include: Zofia Stryjeńska, Maja (Maria) Berezowska, Tamara Łempicka, Helena Schramówna and Zofia Bauduin de Courtenay (painting); Teresa Roszkowska and Irena Lorentowicz (stage design); Wiktoria Goryńska, Janina Konarska, Bogna Krasnodębska-Gardowska and Maria Obrębska (graphic arts); Olga Niewska, Zofia Trzcińska- Kamińska, Mika Mikun, Jadwiga Broniwska, Jadwiga Bogdanowicz and Magdalena Gross (sculpture); Halina Jastrzębowska, Wanda Kossecka, Eleonora Plutyńska and Helena Bukowska-Szlekys (weaving); Wanda Golakowska and Julia Kotarbińska (ceramics); and Maria Bielska and Halina Karpińska-Kintopf (furniture design). Unfortunately, the contribution of the abovementioned women artists does not get as much critical appreciation and fails to arouse as much interest as it deserves.
* Formiści Polscy – a Polish artistic group (1917–1922) whose members were strongly influenced by cubism, expressionism and futurism.
** Szczep Rogate Serce – a Polish artistic group (established in 1929) whose members sought inspiration in the ancient Slav culture.