From the need of the heart. Christmas in non-professional art. Ethnographic exhibition.
December 11, 2010 – February 6, 2011.
The exhibition will feature the work of forty recognized Polish non-diploma artists, whose paintings and sculptures are in many Polish museum collections.
To date, their artwork has met with tremendous interest from collectors and art lovers, ethnologists, art historians and even psychologists and psychiatrists. Collectors and collectors are eager to buy their works, and the prices of such works sometimes reach very high amounts. Non-professional art, also referred to as insita art (unformed, original art), outsider art (alienated, outside art), art brut (art in the raw) or naive art, was recognized and acknowledged in the 20th century, and is now increasingly and boldly presented in various guises. Christmas is a theme that shows an interesting facet of it. More than a hundred Christmas works are part of the rich output of non-professional art with this theme.
Naïve art in Poland was discovered in the 1930s, when artists, writers and poets noticed the work of unknown self-made artists. It was then that Nikifor, an extraordinary naive, original, outstanding colorist, who to this day remains one of the world’s most prominent representatives of this art, became known. The exhibition will feature one of the few works with a Christmas theme by him. In addition to Nikifor, works by Stanislaw Zagajewski, Katarzyna Gaweł, Ludwik Wiecek, Maria Wnęk and many others will be shown. The premise of the exhibition is to present artists who come from different backgrounds, including representatives of the extremely interesting Silesian painting, such as Bronislaw and Eugene Kravchuk or Wladyslaw Lucinski. Among the sculptures on display will be works by Jędrzej Wawra and Jan Lamęcki, and will be the oldest works in the exhibition, dating back to before 1939. Among the recognized naïve artists will be Jan Kaznecki and Wladyslaw Chajec, well known in Podkarpacie.
Many of the aforementioned non-professional artists have lived to see good documentation of their lives and work, even on film. Their works are presented at exhibitions, not only domestic ones.
Within the broad field of non-professional visual arts, there are a variety of artists. The richness of forms, heterogeneity, individualization and variability of the expressions of these artists are very large. It is not uncommon for non-professional artists to be appointed folk artists, naive artists, primitivists, etc. They also increasingly include artists residing in care centers and psychiatric hospitals. The latter group of people gifted with talent has found recognition and has exceptionally appreciated representatives in its ranks. All of them, however, show uncommon talent, great passion and enthusiasm, the need to express themselves, to transfer their own thoughts, visions and dreams to plastic. At the same time, they are characterized by an extraordinary sense and intuition expressed in beautiful, interesting and intriguing, and sometimes perhaps shocking compositions. They expressed their religious ruminations and ideas related to the holiday season through sculpture, using various materials such as wood, clay and coal. The paintings also show a variety of techniques: watercolor, oil paintings and paintings on glass. Printmaking also appears. The interpretation of Christmas itself also captivates with its originality and multiplicity of representations.
The main theme of the exhibition is Christmas, which has been depicted in many scenes. The rich selection of interpretations covers the imaginative sphere based on biblical events as well as illustrating scenes from real life remembered by the artists. Depictions of biblical events included depictions of: The Annunciation, Christmas, the Entombment of the Three Kings, and the Flight into Egypt. Representations of Christmas customs and traditions are also an important part of the exhibition. The remembered traditions, mainly concerning caroling and religious practices, often reveal the origin of the artist himself, the place where he grew up or created. Among the works there are also those that refer only generally to Christmas themes, wanting to smuggle in other issues important to the artist. Such a situation appears in the metaphorical compositions of nativity scenes.
The exhibition will be accompanied by two films, introducing the profiles of two outstanding artists: Nikifor and Zagajewski.
The exhibition will introduce museum visitors to the atmosphere of the upcoming Christmas holidays, and will be presented until February 6, 2011.
