Polish Painter Research Articles

„Rozmowy prowansalskie” — polscy malarze na południu Francji od 1909 roku do dziś

The current state of research on the circle of Polish artists in France in the 20th century is quite advanced, mainly thanks to the publications of Ewa Bobrowska, Anna Wierzbicka, Joanna Szczepińska-Tramer from recent years. The Author completes the research with traces left by Polish painters in the South of France. The Polish colony in Provence played a huge role in the development of Polish painting in the 20th century. It is sufficient enough to mention such names as: Moishe Kisling, Szymon Mondszajn, Henryk Hayden, Zygmunt Menkes, Kazimierz Zielenkiewicz, Wacław Zawadowski, Sasza Blonder, Ludwik Klimek, Józef Jarema, Maria Sperling and the group of Józef Pankiewicz’ students—so called The Capists. The article brings a description of that circle, mutual relations among the painters and Polish writers who lived there, and it identifies works of art that came into being in the South of France.

ART IN EXILE: POLISH PAINTERS IN POST‐WAR BRITAIN BY DOUGLAS HALL

The Art BookVolume 15, Issue 4 p. 77-78 ART IN EXILE: POLISH PAINTERS IN POST-WAR BRITAIN BY DOUGLAS HALL VICTORIA KELLER, VICTORIA KELLER Writer, New YorkSearch for more papers by this author VICTORIA KELLER, VICTORIA KELLER Writer, New YorkSearch for more papers by this author First published: 31 October 2008 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8357.2008.00998_5.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume15, Issue4November 2008Pages 77-78 RelatedInformation

THE URGE TO JUDGE

Post‐1989 debates about intellectuals and communism in Poland have focused on intellectuals’ failure to oppose a system which sought to make them the objects of its cultural policy and on the extent to which they were therefore responsible for the communist system and its abuses. This article surveys these debates, tracing participants’ urge to judge intellectuals who failed to fulfil their longstanding “obligation” to serve as the nation’s defenders, heroically resisting authoritarian rule in all its guises. It also discusses the early postwar actions and images of Polish painter Jonasz Stern, arguing that Stern’s simultaneous support of and resistance against the communist regime complicates – and perhaps dooms – retrospective efforts to morally judge intellectuals and their responsibility for communism.

Aphasia in an artist: A disorder of symbolic processing

Abstract This paper presents a study of a prominent Polish painter who suffered from a left brain stroke resulting in hemiparesis and aphasia. His drawing abilities were preserved on the performance level but he was not able to create the highly symbolic pictures he used to paint before the stroke. A neuropsychological examination, using Luria's approach, revealed a kinetic aphasia with some features of the frontal syndrome. The patient exhibited difficulties with reproducing and developing narratives, with understanding a moral of the story as well as with connecting components of a picture into a sensible whole. He was also unable to produce new associations of a word giving a series of its derivations instead. The patient was given appropriate treatment. Samples of pictures produced before and during the illness as well as after ‘Symbolic Thought Therapy’ reflect changes occuring in his cognitive abilities. The patient's problems are discussed against a background of differences in the mode of information processing by the left and right hemispheres taking into consideration the reports of artistic productions following brain lesions. It is also suggested that apart from the left-right dichotomy we should take into account the differences in functioning of the anterior and posterior brain areas.

The Eschatological Realism of Jerzy Nowosielski

The life and work of Polish painter Jerzy Nowosielski are discussed at length in an attempt to elucidate the apparent contradictions in both. Nowosielski, born in Cracow, is best known for his vivid, bold, very modern icon paintings, in particular those decorating the interiors of several architecturally striking churches in Poland. To understand the reasons for his interest in icons and the artistic choices he makes in painting them, some knowledge of his personal background, as well as of his philosophical and spiritual concerns, is required. At the root of Nowosielski's esoteric creative vision is his own historical analysis of the cultural origins of Europe, which he sees as a fruitful mixture of the traditions of East and West. The attraction of the artist, whose mother was Roman Catholic and whose father was a Catholic of the Eastern Rite, i.e., a Uniate, to the Eastern Orthodox Church also plays a crucial and, in his scheme of things, perfectly logical role in his thinking. For him Orthodoxy is an integral part of the rich European heritage, a heritage which has developed in part out of the tension and cross-fertilization between waxing and waning cultures, as, for example, when the Classical Greek world gave way to the Roman Empire, the leadership of the early Christian Church was transferred from Rome to Byzantium, or when, with the decline of the Byzantine empire, a Hellenistic revival laid the groundwork for the Italian Renaissance. The extraordinary beauty of Nowosielski's artistic production - which includes secular subjects - merits this in-depth look at the complex theological reasoning behind it, but equally of interest today is his idea of a present and future Europe that is all the stronger for its inherent contrasts.

Biography as High Adventure: Life-Writers Speak on their Art (review)

REVIEWS 167 how thorough and competent the reporting was for every geo-political entity but his own area of expertise. Keeping this in mind, I asked two biographers (of a philosopher and a painter) to read and comment upon the entries pertaining to their subjects. The reaction of the first was unprintable; the second described the book as "probably a harmless enough publication, one we might suggest for undergraduates or others who want vague knowledge of a person and do not need serious and in-depth information." I asked a reference librarian at my university to evaluate Chambers, and her response was very much the same as the one just quoted. Together we looked through several guides to reference materials to see how others assessed this volume. This judgement of Walford (A Guide to Reference Materials, 4th ed.) seemed representative: "a good one volume for the small library." But then, just how useful is an entry which states in its entirety that "Matejko, Jan Alois (1838-93)" was a "Polish painter, born at Cracow, noted for his paintings of scenes from Polish history"? Even though it is amusing to read that Agis IV was a king of Sparta who "succeeded in 244 B.C., and, having proposed a redistribution of property, was strangled, 241 B.C." or that "Brownrigg, Elizabeth," was "a midwife hanged at Tyburn in 1767 for the barbarous murder of a workhouse apprentice, Mary Clifford,"—of what use are entries such as these to persons who want genuine information? There are far too many entries listing names followed by one-line descriptions such as "Italian painter" or "Slovene poet." It seems reasonable to assume that anyone who goes so far as to look up these persons in a biographical dictionary would probably know that much already. There are ten subject indices, ranging from art and architecture to science and industry. These consist mostly of authors and titles and inventors and their inventions . All information relates to "relevant articles" within the book and is only given for the better-known in every category, as the editors have chosen to exclude "relatively obscure or insignificant titles and subjects." This sort of editorial selection once again severely limits the volume's usefulness for serious scholars and researchers. The editors would like us to believe that this is "a book which may be read as well as looked up," and indeed it is amusing in parts. They insist that each entry exemplifies "human interest and critical observation," which for me translates as quirky and opinionated. The editors themselves should have the last word: they describe the subject indices as "an invaluable aid for devotees of quiz games and crosswords, for settling arguments, or for the idle pursuit of general knowledge." For this reviewer, the remark serves as an excellent description and evaluation of the entire volume. Deirdre Bair University of Pennsylvania Stephen B. Oates, ed., Biography as High Adventure: Life-Writers Speak on their Art. Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1986. 146pp. Hardback $20.00; paper $8.95. This collection of stimulating essays by various distinguished biographers presents an unbuttoned approach to biography, in contrast to a more systematic scholarly approach. A varied group of writers of lives here unabashedly advocates biography as an art rather than a science. The fascination of attempting to reconstruct the life of another person who has lived, who has a real history as opposed to the invented history of a character in fie- 168 biography Vol. 10,No. 2 tion, remains the center of biography's elusiveness and the source of its fascination. Wobbling between the wandering magnetic poles of history on one side and literature on the other, and in our time subject to the gravitational pull of psychology and sociology , biography is an astonishing interdisciplinary enterprise. Is it really, deeply, a viable enterprise? Is the goal of reconstructing a past life attainable ? Speaking for the negative, Sartre presents us in Nausea with the peevish historian Roquentin, whose mind is soured by the blind facticity of the world. Roquentin, it will be remembered, unable to puzzle out the thread of existence, spends his professional time trying to capture the life of the Marquis...