Patron HM The Queen Patron HE The President of the Republic of Poland

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2 Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG Display organized by Tate Britain in collaboration with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Warsaw as part of Curators Alison Smith, Tate Britain Andrzej Szczerski, Art History Institute, Jagiellonian University, Kraków Piotr Kopszak, National Museum in Warsaw Lenders National Museum in Warsaw National Museum in Krakow National Museum in Poznań Raczyński Foundation The Sosenko Family Archives and Collections, Kraków Admission free Brochure Instytut Adama Mickiewicza 2009 for the essay Alison Smith, Tate Britain for the photos National Museum in Warsaw, National Museum in Krakow, National Museum in Poznań Front cover: Jacek Malczewski, Eloe with Ellenai , National Museum in Poznań Patron HM The Queen Patron HE The President of the Republic of Poland

3 Symbolism in Poland and Britain Józef Mehoffer, Strange Garden, Kazimierz Stabrowski, Portrait of the Artist s Wife, c During the historical period covered by this display Poland was struggling to preserve national identity and regain independence. From the final partition of Poland in 1795 by Russia, Prussia and Austria, to its re-emergence as an independent nation at the end of the First World War in 1918, the cause of liberation was uppermost in the minds and hopes of Poles as expressed by its artists and writers. The failed November uprising of 1830 resulted in the Great Emigration with many 4 5

4 Witold Wojtkiewicz, Meditations, 1908 Stanisław Wyspiański, Apollo, 1904 émigrés settling in Paris which became the centre of Polish political thought. The poets Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Słowacki and Zygmunt Krasiński, who shaped the attitudes of successive generations of Poles, lived and worked in exile there. In 1863 Poland attempted another insurrection which resulted in severe repression fuelling the messianic mission of its art. Polish painting gained momentum from this troubled political situation, and towards the end of the century flourished under the heading Młoda Polska (Young Poland). Modern art in Poland carried different connotations from established centres like Paris. It was less interested in Impressionism than in developing the narrative and didactic force of Polish art into a highly personal symbolist 7

5 Feliks Jasiński after Rossetti, Paolo and Francesca, 1903 Kazimierz Sichulski, Angel, 1911 and allegorical language. Focused around the Sztuka (Art) secessionist society in Kraków, artists associated with Młoda Polska aspired to overcome the insularity of Polish art while aiming at an individual form of expression. British symbolist 9

6 Symbolism in Poland and Britain LIST OF EXHIBITED WORKS 1. Lawrence Alma-Tadema ( ), Portrait of Ignacy Jan Paderewski, 1891 Oil on canvas, 45.5 x 59, National Museum in Warsaw 2. Edward Burne-Jones ( ), Portrait of Ignacy Jan Paderewski, 1892 Pencil on paper, 34.7 x 31, National Museum in Warsaw 3. Walter Crane ( ), The Triumph of Labour, 1897 Zincograph on paper, 9 x 14, The Sosenko Family Archives and Collections, Kraków 4. Sir Alfred Gilbert ( ), Ignacy Jan Paderewski, 1891 Bronze sculpture, 60 x 31.9 x 19.3, Tate 5. Feliks Jasiński ( ), The Golden Stairs, 1894 Engraving on parchment, 75 x 36.5, National Museum in Warsaw 6. Feliks Jasiński, Paolo and Francesca, 1903 Etching in sepia tone on paper, 46.8 x 37.9, National Museum in Warsaw 7. Jacek Malczewski ( ), The Death of Ellenai, 1907 Oil on canvas, 208 x 114, Property of the Raczyński Foundation at the National Museum in Poznań 8. Jacek Malczewski ( ), Eloe with Ellenai, Oil on canvas, 218 x 129, National Museum in Poznań 9. Józef Mehoffer ( ), Strange Garden, Oil on canvas, 217 x 208, National Museum in Warsaw 10. John Everett Millais ( ), The Yeoman of the Guard, 1876 Oil on canvas, x 111.8, Tate Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Portrait of Ignacy Jan Paderewski, 1891 art became an important source of inspiration in this endeavour, being regarded as modern, progressive and nationalistic. Although few Polish artists visited Britain, they absorbed its art through the mediation of French writers and International Exhibitions, as well as the books and prints about British art that were circulated in Poland. British Symbolism particularly functioned as a movement with which contemporary Polish artists could dialogue. Burne-Jones, Rossetti, G.F.Watts and the designer Walter Crane, were all regarded as active agents inspiring transformation within the individual as well as society at large. 11. Józef Pankiewicz ( ), Nocturne Swans in the Saxon Garden in Warsaw at Night, 1894 Oil on canvas, 86 x 151, National Museum in Warsaw 12. Kazimierz Sichulski ( ), Angel, 1911 Gouache, watercolour, gold, silver, paper on canvas, 152 x 89, National Museum in Poznań 13. Kazimierz Stabrowski ( ), Portrait of the Artist s wife, c Oil on canvas, 160 x 98, National Museum in Warsaw 14. George Frederic Watts ( ), Hope, 1886 Oil on canvas, x 111.8, Tate 15. Witold Wojtkiewicz ( ), Christ and the Children, 1908 Oil on canvas, 65 x 70, National Museum in Warsaw 16. Witold Wojtkiewicz, Meditations, 1908 Oil on canvas, 80 x 90, National Museum in Kraków 17. Stanisław Wyspiański ( ), Apollo, 1904 Pastel on paper, 343 x 146, National Museum in Kraków Measurements of artworks are given in centimetres, height before width

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