Andrzej Szczerski

Julia Griffin

Showcasing the extraordinary achievements of the proponents of Polish modernism from the 1890s to 1918, this ground-breaking book brings together pioneering research with beautiful imagery. Mloda Polska, or Young Poland, embraced the integration of fine and applied arts, motivated by a desire to establish a distinctive national style at a time of political uncertainty. Patriotic values were expressed through a diverse visual language that was fuelled by national identity, but also looked beyond Poland to Western Europe and the influences of Impressionism, Expressionism, Symbolism, Art Nouveau, while also displaying parallels with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. Young Poland's painting has been discussed within an international arena, but its decorative arts and architecture has yet to enjoy broad exposure. Here, for the first time, the considerable achievements of the movement's applied artists will be discussed, both from a national and international perspective. Highlighting Young Poland's integration of fine and decorative arts, the movement's ideological, stylistic and formal commonalities with British Arts and Crafts, and the vision of Ruskin and Morris, will be drawn out to provide fascinating insights for Western and Eastern audiences alike.

The Arts and Crafts Movement, 1890-1918

Young Poland

Andrzej Szczerski examines how artists responded to the post-1989 transition to democracy and a free market economy and proposed directions for these transformations to take, as well as their role in shaping remembrance of the communist era.

Art in East-Central Europe Since 1989

Transformation

"Views of Albion" is the first comprehensive study of the reception of British art and design in Central Europe at the turn of the twentieth century. The author proposes a new map of European Art Nouveau, where direct contacts between peripheral cultures were more significant than the influence of Paris. These new patterns of artistic exchange, often without historic precedence, gave art during this period its unique character and dynamism. Beginning with an analysis of the concept of Central Europe, the book examines knowledge about British art and design in the region. In subsequent chapters the author looks at the reception of the Pre-Raphaelites in painting and graphic arts as well as analysing diverse responses to the Arts and Crafts Movement in Germany, Austria, Poland, Bohemia, Slovakia, Hungary and Southern Slavic countries. The epilogue reveals the British interest in Central Europe, echoed in the designs Walter Crane, Charles Robert Ashbee and publications of The Studio. The book questions the insularity of British culture and offers new insights into art and design of Central Europe at the fin de siecle. It presents the region as a vital part of the international Art Nouveau, but also shows its specific features, visible in the works of artists such as Alfons Mucha, Gustav Klimt and Stanisław Wyspiański."

The Reception of British Art and Design in Central Europe, 1890-1918

Views of Albion

Christopher Riopelle

Owen Gingerich

Largely unknown outside his homeland, Jan Matejko (1838-1893) is widely regarded as the national painter of Poland, where he is revered for his huge, teeming, minutely detailed depictions of key moments in the nation's history. This volume, by Polish, British, and American experts, introduces the artist to a wider public with this monumental painting. It celebrates the achievements of Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), the first astronomer since the Ancient Greeks to realize that the sun rather than the earth stands at the center of our planetary system and that we rotate around it. Rather than depicting Copernicus at the moment of his discovery--his chart of the heavens is already there by his side--Matejko chose to paint him on a rooftop in his hometown of Frombork, discussing the matter with God. Unlike Galileo three-quarters of a century later, Copernicus was never excommunicated for challenging the authority of the church; indeed, enlightened clerics of the day celebrated his breakthrough.

Andrzej Szczerski

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