9 Key Artworks at Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź
The Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź is a Polish museum renowned for its extensive collection of modern and contemporary art pieces. Culture.pl takes a look at nine key artworks that will be on permanent display from autumn 2021! Among the outstanding pieces in this selection you’ll find works by such acclaimed artists like Max Ernst, Katarzyna Kobro and Wojciech Fangor.
‘The Sun & the Forest’ by Max Ernst
Picture display
mały obrazek [560 px]
‘The Sun & the Forest’’ by Max Ernst, 1928, Muzeum Sztuki, Łódź, copyright: Adagp, Paris
We start off with a piece that’s the oldest piece of art on this list. The Sun & the Forest is a magnificent painting created in 1928 by the German painter and sculptor Max Ernst. After being involved with the Dada art movement in Cologne, in 1922 he moved to Paris where he joined the Surrealists. As inspiration, the Surrealists tended to use inner visions stemming from the unconscious, memories and dreams.
In Ernst’s painting, the theme of the forest supposedly references German painting of the Reformation and Romantic periods but also the painter’s childhood memories:
Text
Having grown up on the edge of a thick woodland in Brühle in the Rhineland, the forest was a particularly powerful image for Ernst, a labyrinthine arena of mystery, danger and possibility that preyed on and haunted the recesses of his unconscious mind. Indeed, one of the artist’s earliest memories was of his father taking him to the forests around their home. […] For him, the forest was an archetypal symbol of [the] shadowy borderland between what is known and what is unknown.
Author
From christies.com
In this context, the sun appears to be a primal symbol of the power of nature, rather than a rational element shedding light on the mysteries of the forest.
‘Spatial Composition (2)’ by Katarzyna Kobro
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
‘Spatial Composition (2)’ by Katarzyna Kobro, 1928, copyright: Ewa Sapka Pawliczak and Muzeum Sztuki, Łódź
Like The Sun & the Forest this artwork was also created in 1928. Spatial Composition (2) is an intriguing piece by the eminent sculptor and art theoretician Katarzyna Kobro. Born to German-Russian parents, she was one of the most talented figures of Poland’s Interwar avant-garde and is strongly associated with Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź. This institution’s collection includes nearly all of her artworks which survived World War II.
This metal sculpture is part of a series of spatial compositions which pose a question about the relationship between sculpture and space. In this series, Kobro stripped the medium of sculpture to its essential core – the organisation of space. Her spatial compositions exhibit carefully thought-out mathematical proportions and space-time rhythms.
Here’s what Katarzyna Kobro wrote about sculpture in 1929 in Europa magazine:
Text
The sculpture enters space and space enters the sculpture. The spatiality of its construction, the connection between sculpture and space, force the sculpture to reveal the sincere truth of its existence. That is why there should be no random shapes in sculpture. There should be only those shapes that position it towards space by connecting with it.
Author
From Katarzyna Kobro Biography on Culture.pl
‘The Neoplastic Room’ by Władysław Strzemiński
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
‘The Neoplastic Room’ by Władysław Strzemiński, 1948 / 1960, reconstruction: Bolesław Utkin, photo: A. Zagrodzka, 2020, Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź archive
Our next work was created by Katarzyna Kobro’s husband, the eminent Polish painter and art theoretician Władysław Strzemiński. Like Kobro, Strzemiński was also a noted representative of the avant-garde in Interwar Poland. Among his most important works are the late 1940s paintings known as ‘afterimages’ which attempt to capture the visual sensations that linger after stimulating one’s eyes with bright sunlight.
The Neoplastic Room is a 1948 interior design by Strzemiński, created for an exhibition hall at the Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź at 36 Więckowskiego Street. The museum has two other buildings, where artworks from its collection are displayed – at 72 Przędzalniana Street and 19 Ogrodowa Street.
The Neoplastic Room was devised as a space for exhibiting European avant-garde art. Strzemiński embellished the walls and ceiling in this room with rectangular surfaces in primary colours: red, yellow, blue, white, grey and black. As a result the splendid interior clearly references the distinctive neoplastic art of Piet Mondrian.
In her 1991 book Sala Neoplastyczna (The Neoplastic Room), Janina Ładnowska, a former curator at the Muzeum Sztuki, wrote:
Text
The Neoplastic Room was meant to realise the idea of merging an object with a space that multiplies the object and gives it new life through the use of coloured surfaces.
Sadly, in 1950, The Neoplastic Room was shut down as it was seen as too distant from the aesthetic doctrine of socialist realism, enforced by the communist regime. The polychromes in the room were painted over and the artworks exhibited there were put in storage. Fortunately, the room was recreated a decade later. Today, it still sports Strzemiński’s interior design and serves as an exhibition space for a number of pieces including Kobro’s Spatial Composition (2).
‘Figures’ by Wojciech Fangor
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
‘Figures’ by Wojciech Fangor, 1950, copyright: Magdalena Fangor and Muzeum Sztuki, Łódź
Interestingly, in the museum’s collection you can actually find a painting that’s considered one of Poland’s most important works created in conformity with… the aesthetic of socialist realism. Figures was painted by the eminent Wojciech Fangor in 1950. In the early stages of his artistic career, Fangor created socialist-realist pieces, only later did he move on to his famous (and expensive!) optical art paintings.
In Figures, the woman to the left is elegant – she wears a dress covered in English, ‘cosmopolitan’ & ‘capitalist’ words such as ‘London’, ‘Wall Street’, ‘Miami’ and ‘Coca Cola’. She’s wearing makeup and her nails are painted; she doesn’t look like the type to do physical work. In the background lays Poland in ruins – it was painted just five years after World War II. She’s juxtaposed with the pair of workers to the right. They’re both strong and clad in simple working attire, the woman worker isn’t wearing any makeup. The pair appears to be equipped with working tools and behind them stands a newly-built building. They seem to be looking at the elegant lady with disapproval.
The three figures in Fangor’s painting convey a staunch socialist-realist message:
Text
The workers symbolise communist ideas: simplicity and the cult of work. The girl that’s enchanted by the West doesn’t participate in the socialist rebuilding of the country, she’s ideologically unjust.
Author
From zasoby.msl.org.pl, trans. MK
‘Self-Identification’ by Ewa Partum
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
‘Self-Identification’ by Ewa Partum, 1980, copyright: Ewa Partum and Muzeum Sztuki, Łódź
The next work on our list also portrays a group of figures, although it’s not executed in the same medium. 1980’s Self-Identification is one of the photomontages in a series of the same title by Ewa Partum. Partum is among Poland’s most influential contemporary artists, her diverse oeuvre includes conceptual art, photography, film and performance. She’s seen as a precursor of body and feminist art in Poland.
In Self-Identification we see the naked figure of the artist superimposed over a cityscape of Warsaw. The ordinary, gloomy people around her don’t seem to notice her. She, on the other hand, seems detached from the crowd, as if she wasn’t part of it. This might suggest a disconnect between the artist and the norms of society which her nudity appears to challenge. The artist’s naked body can also be seen as a symbol of affirmation of womanhood and one’s self.
Text
The titular self-identification is a prerequisite for self-fulfilment. It is the initial stage and a sine qua non condition. The artist seems to imply that in order to realise one's own goals, we first need to understand the limitations of our own position and get rid of them – do away with the camouflage. […] Self-identification is self-exploration, but also an awareness – a feminist one.
Author
From ‘Self-Identification’ on Culture.pl
‘Goldfinger’ by Alina Szapocznikow
Here we have another piece by a noted Polish female artist. Goldfinger is an assemblage created in 1965 by Alina Szapocznikow, one of Poland’s most important and most well-known sculptors. In the 1950s, Szapocznikow focussed on expressive, figurative sculptures. However, after moving to Paris in 1963, her style evolved. In France, she created what are quite probably her best-known works – series of casts of her own body parts, made from synthetic materials like polyester and polyurethane.
Goldfinger is a piece that is said to reference the James Bond movie which premiered in France in 1965. It’s uncertain whether Szapocznikow actually saw the film, perhaps she only caught a glimpse of the posters that promoted it. They featured Jill Masterson, one of the film’s characters, lying naked on a bed with her entire body covered in gold paint.
Szapocznikow’s Goldfinger consists of cement elements and a truck suspension spring. The entire piece is covered with a gold patina. Here’s how the artwork is described on the museum’s website:
Text
The spread female legs made of cement seem helpless in comparison to what can be seen as a mechanical torso. The work shows the conjoining of body and machine, but the latter plays a dominant role, it seems almost oppressive. […] The intense golden colour of the artwork is also significant. It lets one treat the sculpture as a kind of fetish. It shows the consumer society’s ambivalent approach to objects, which are revered for a while, and later discarded.
Author
From zasoby.msl.org.pl, trans. MK
It’s worth adding that, in 1965, Goldfinger won the Copley Foundation Award from a jury that included such celebrated artists as Jean Arp, Marcel Duchamp and the aforementioned Max Ernst.
‘My Colouring Book’ by Pauline Boty
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
‘My Colouring Book’ by Pauline Boty, 1963, Muzeum Sztuki, Łódź, copyright: Pauline Boty Estate
This next piece is also linked to a work of pop culture. England’s Pauline Boty was a female pioneer in British pop art. She created paintings and collages dealing with such themes like male and female pop icons, self-assured femininity and female sexuality.
Her 1963 painting My Colouring Book referenced the song of the same title, which was a hit in the early 60s. Performed by various artists, including Barbara Streisand and Kitty Kallen, this pop ballad tells the story of a girl who was left by her boyfriend.
Boty’s My Colouring Book is arranged somewhat like a comic strip – it has various sections that depict verses of the song. The lyrics, only slightly altered in the final verse (where ‘man’ is substituted with ‘boy’), are included in the painting. It plays with a stereotypical, pop-cultural aesthetic. The boy looks like a leading actor in a film, while the room looks like it was taken straight out of a lifestyle magazine. The Art Story analyses the painting’s message:
Text
Boty is sympathetic with the plight of the heartbroken woman and the difficulties of the female experience. But at the same time, she is demonstrating the way in which women's media of the time reduces these experiences to a melancholic array of stock images and colours. […] My Colouring Book […] highlights the way in which this experience was infantilised and made melodramatic in girls' magazines, romance movies, and popular songs.
‘How the Dictatorship of the Parties Can Be Overcome’ by Joseph Beuys
Next up we have another work by a renowned foreign artist. How the Dictatorship of the Parties Can Be Overcome was created in 1971 by Germany’s Joseph Beuys. He was a sculptor and performance artist, known for creating sculptural objects from unorthodox materials like fat and felt. In many cases, the artist considered the concepts behind his creations as more important than the objects themselves. Therefore his works can often be seen as, primarily, carriers of meaning.
How the Dictatorship of the Parties Can Be Overcome is a plastic bag design bearing various political slogans printed in German. The green section on top describes a ‘democracy’ and includes messages the artist approves of – it’s neighboured by a big sign saying ‘yes’. In this section you can read, for example, that ‘not only political groups of interest have rights, everybody [has them]!’ The red section below revolves around a ‘party-state’ and is accompanied by a sign saying ‘no.’ This is what the artist deems as unwanted. In this section you may find, among other things, the following message: ‘no responsible leaders, [they’re responsible] only before themselves and nobody else.’
In the museum’s description the artwork we read:
Text
We see the combination of an everyday ordinary object with the visualisation of a dignified idea – a socio-political utopia. A paradoxical juxtaposition especially given that a plastic bag is a symbol of consumerism and opposes the attitude of a social activist and supporter of change. Beuys consciously uses the paradox to emphasise his message. His model of overcoming the party’s dictatorship is not aimed at a small group of art lovers or intellectuals, but is an appeal to ordinary people.
Author
From zasoby.msl.org.pl
‘Not for You’ by Monica Bonvicini
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
‘Not for You’ by Monica Bonvicini, 2006, copyright: Muzeum Sztuki, Łódź
Last, but not least, we have a 2006 installation created by Italy’s Monica Bonvicini, a diverse artist who creates sculptures, installations, videos and photography. Her works explore such themes as the meaning of making art, the ambiguity of language, and the relationship between architecture, power and control.
Not for You consist of 182 lightbulbs and letters made of galvanized steel, which together make up a sign repeating the artwork’s title. The lightbulbs are programmed to pulsate in a somewhat disturbing manner; the pulsation is accompanied by an annoying buzzing sound. On the other hand, the warm light of the lightbulbs and the seemingly familiar form of the sign invite the viewer to approach Bonvicini’s piece. Therefore Not for You creates an ambivalent experience, one that has both pleasant and unpleasant aspects.
According to art historian Aleksandra Jach, Not for You comments on the sometimes ambivalent relationships between collectors, artists and admirers of art. The latter want to come into contact with great pieces but they are often inaccessible:
Text
Bonvicini alerts us to the fact that art […] encompasses beautiful, spectacular objects that suddenly come into the possession of collectors and disappear from sight. […] The disturbing message ‘not for you’ may signal that we’re dealing with something that excludes us in a certain way, something that’s a ritual of the temple of art, a ritual of the artistic community and its hermetic, incomprehensible language.
Author
From ‘Którędy po Sztukę, Ep. 41’, a TV programme on TVP Kultura
We are happy to say that all the pieces of art in this article are, or will be, available to and for you at the Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź!
Written by Marek Kępa, May 21
The works presented here are part of Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź’s 20th- and 21st-Century Art Collection. These works are exhibited at permanent exhibitions in ms1 (the Neoplastic Room) and ms2 or constitute an announcement of the exhibition ‘Atlas of Modernity: 20th and 21st Century Art Collection’. They can also be viewed at the website zasoby.msl.org.pl.
[{"nid":"5688","uuid":"6aa9e079-0240-4dcb-9929-0d1cf55e03a5","type":"article","langcode":"en","field_event_date":"","title":"Challenges for Polish Prose in the Nineties","field_introduction":"Content: Depict the world, oneself and the form | The Mimetic Challenge: seeking the truth, destroying and creating myths | Seeking the Truth about the World | Destruction of the Heroic Emigrant Myth | Destruction of the Polish Patriot Myth | Destruction of the Flawless Democracy Myth | Creation of Myths | Biographical challenge | Challenges of genre | Summary\r\n","field_summary":"Content: Depict the world, oneself and the form | The Mimetic Challenge: seeking the truth, destroying and creating myths | Seeking the Truth about the World | Destruction of the Heroic Emigrant Myth | Destruction of the Polish Patriot Myth | Destruction of the Flawless Democracy Myth | Creation of Myths | Biographical challenge | Challenges of genre | Summary","topics_data":"a:2:{i:0;a:3:{s:3:\u0022tid\u0022;s:5:\u002259609\u0022;s:4:\u0022name\u0022;s:26:\u0022#language \u0026amp; literature\u0022;s:4:\u0022path\u0022;a:2:{s:5:\u0022alias\u0022;s:27:\u0022\/topics\/language-literature\u0022;s:8:\u0022langcode\u0022;s:2:\u0022en\u0022;}}i:1;a:3:{s:3:\u0022tid\u0022;s:5:\u002259644\u0022;s:4:\u0022name\u0022;s:8:\u0022#culture\u0022;s:4:\u0022path\u0022;a:2:{s:5:\u0022alias\u0022;s:14:\u0022\/topic\/culture\u0022;s:8:\u0022langcode\u0022;s:2:\u0022en\u0022;}}}","field_cover_display":"default","image_title":"","image_alt":"","image_360_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/360_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=ZsoNNVXJ","image_260_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/260_auto_cover\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=pLlgriOu","image_560_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/560_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=0n3ZgoL3","image_860_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/860_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=ELffe8-z","image_1160_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1160_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=XazO3DM5","field_video_media":"","field_media_video_file":"","field_media_video_embed":"","field_gallery_pictures":"","field_duration":"","cover_height":"991","cover_width":"1000","cover_ratio_percent":"99.1","path":"en\/node\/5688","path_node":"\/en\/node\/5688"}]