Zacheta
Encyclopedia
The Zachęta National Gallery of Art, short Zachęta, [zaˈxɛnta] (Polish: Narodowa Galeria Sztuki), is one of Poland's
most notable institutions for contemporary art. Situated in the centre of Warsaw
, the main aim of the gallery is to present and support primarily Polish contemporary art and artists. With numerous temporary exhibitions of well known foreign artists, the gallery has also established itself internationally.
The Polish term zachęta can be translated as encouragement or motivation and refers to the
Towarzystwo Zachęty do Sztuk Pięknych, the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts founded in Warsaw
in 1860.
s nor libraries
nor other generally accessible institutions which could have allowed for exchange among artists. As a consequence of the November Uprising
, Poland
faced repressions making higher artistic education virtually impossible. The last major exhibition took place in 1845. After protests by artists during the 1850s, the Wystawa Krajowa Sztuk Pięknych (English: National Exhibition of Fine Arts) was eventually approved in 1858 and lead to negotiations with the Russian
rulers who in the end permitted the foundation of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in 1860.
The Society's statures were set by artists and art experts. A first official meeting and the election of a board of directors took place on December 13th in 1860. The board comprised twelve members, six of each artists and art experts, and was elected annually. The members remained in office for at least one month but no longer than one year.
The primary aim of the Society was the dissemination of fine arts as well as support and encouragement of artists. Furthermore, its intention was to create general awareness of art among the Polish society. In 1860 the Society had 234 official registered members. Only one year later the number had increased to 1464.
Initially, all artworks were on display until they were sold. Soon enough that lead to crowded walls and a monotonous permanent exhibition. After fundamental changes made between 1900 and 1939, the permanent exhibition was shown only in addition to temporarily changing exhibitions.
Not only was the Society annually hosting Salons, but it also funded scholarships and offered other aid to young artists, both members and candidates.
Similar to many other exhibition buildings of the 19th century, the Zachęta building belongs to the category of European
palaces of culture and was registered as a historical monument
in 1965.
First tenders for the design of a new building were already put out in 1862. However, due to a lack of financial resources the plans were not realized. After the Society was given building ground by the municipality, another competition was announced in 1894 won by the Warsaw architect Stefan Szyller. He presented an architectural
design in neo-Renaissance style with classical
elements. The portal
is ornamented with allegorical
figures and sculptural
works by Zygmunt Otto. The architrave
of the building is engraved with the Latin
word Artibus.
The construction works began in 1898. In December 1900 the front building was officially opened followed by the opening of the south wing in 1903. Both opening and extension of the building were exceptionally well reviewed. Szyller's plans originally included the construction of two more wings which could not be implemented at that time. In 1958 however, the Ministry of Art and Culture decided to reconstruct the building. Surrounding houses were destroyed during the war and thus involuntarily gave way to an extension of the building. The Warsaw architects Oskar Hansen, Lech Tomaszewski and Stanisław Zamecznikow were entrusted with the reconstruction. Their concept intended a grid construction which would allow for an entirely free use and design of the interior space. In fact, the concept was not realized and the planned reconstruction postponed.
Eventually in 1982, the reconstruction plans were taken up again and executed by the Shop for Preservation of Monuments. From 1991 to 1993 the reconstruction actions were supervised and executed by the company Dom i Miasto (English: Home and City). Also the company is responsible for the extension of the staircases inside the building which allowed for a direct access to the exhibition halls within the new part of the building. The resulting monumental
perspective
is emphasized by the Gladiator, a work by the Polish sculptor Pius Weloński which remained from the Society's former collection.
The extension of the building not only entailed a larger exhibition space but also a depot to store artworks, an unloading platform as well as an office wing with a separate entrance. The largest exhibition hall was named after the Polish painter Jan Matejko
. Another room is named after Gabriel Narutowicz
, the first president of the Second Polish Republic
who was assassinated at Zachęta on December 16th in 1922 by Eligiusz Niewiadomski
, a Polish painter and critic. To commemorate the president and Wojciech Gerson
, one of the founders of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts, two plaques were revealed during the gallery's anniversary celebrations in 2000.
During the Warsaw Uprising
the Zachęta building was heavily damaged by artillery and bombs and thus needed to be fully renovated at the end of the war.
Also by the end of the war they found traces of a flammable substance, suggesting that German units probably planned to set the building alight shortly before their withdrawal.
In 1951 the exhibition activities were taken up again.
The central bureau was responsible for the organisation of art exhibitions as well as any other form of artistic activity throughout the entire country. In the very year of its foundation, additional branch offices opened in Kraków
, Katowice
and Poznań
. They were followed by offices in Łódź, Zakopane
, Gdańsk
, Szczecin
and Wrocław in 1951 and finally by offices in Olsztyn
und Opole
in 1958. In 1962 a separate department was set up exclusively responsible for the Warsaw International Poster Biennial which took place in 1968.
Eventually, the Central Bureau for Art Exhibitions became the most important institution within the area of cultural policy. During the 1960s attention was especially paid to art education and communication of art. To create an ideological awareness, the main focus was above all on the support of teachers and pupils as they would make the audience contemporary art would direct itself to.
The 1980s were particularly characterized by the radical political changes related to the declaration of martial law
leading also to a boycott of all official galleries. In fact, the central bureau never really recovered from those drastic failures.
and the fall of the Iron Curtain
changed the political circumstances fundamentally and also affected the structure of the central bureau. Barbara Majewska who was then the director of the bureau, initiated that the bureau moved away from its former old and centralistic structures. On May 30th in 1994 the Central Bureau for Art Exhibitions was finally closed and turned into the Zachęta State Gallery.
In 2003 the Polish minister of culture
Waldemar Dąbrowski renamed the gallery Narodowa Galeria Sztuki (English: National Gallery of Art).
Within the same year the gallery opened the exhibition Słońce i inne Gwiazdy (English: The Sun and other Stars) based on a survey taken in 1999. Directed above all to Polish art historians, critics and curators, the survey asked for the most important artists of the 20th century. It was above all directed to Polish art historians, critics and curators. The result were two lists: one presenting the most important Polish artists of the 20th century and one presenting the most important foreign artists of the 20th century.
The exhibition Słońce i inne Gwiazdy showed ten of the elected Polish artists: Magdalena Abakanowicz
, Tadeusz Kantor
, Katarzyna Kobro
, Roman Opałka, Henryk Stażewski
, Władysław Strzemiński, Alina Szapocznikow
, Witkacy, Witold Wojtkiewicz
and Andrzej Wróblewski
. Also in 2000 the gallery launched an exhibition presenting ten of the most important foreign artists including Pablo Picasso
, Francis Bacon
, Joseph Beuys
, Marcel Duchamp
, Wassily Kandinsky
, Andy Warhol
, Kazimir Malevich
, Salvador Dalí
, Piet Mondrian
and Constantin Brancusi
.
In 2000 the Swiss art historian Harald Szeemann
curated an exhibition featuring Maurizio Cattelan
s La Nona Ora (English: The ninth Hour). The artwork shows Pope John Paul II
hit and buried by a meteor
. As the influence of the Catholic Church in Poland still is very strong, the presentation of Cattelan's work lead to a public scandal.
, Henryk Stażewski
and Alina Szapocznikow
are represented within the collection as well as world famous Polish contemporary artists such as Mirosław Bałka, Katarzyna Kozyra
, Zbigniew Libera
, Wilhelm Sasnal
and Krzysztof Wodiczko
.
The works of the collection not only reflect the often complicated past of the institution, but also show the by now clearly defined focus of the gallery. Today, above all works of contemporary Polish artists enter the collection, either works that have been shown in the gallery before or works which were produced in cooperation with the gallery. That also applies for works and projects which have not been realized locally such as the Polish Pavilion at the Biennale in Venice. There is no permanent exhibition of the collection. The works either become integrated in temporary shows or are on loan for exhibitions in other Polish institutions or abroad.
Decisions about enlarging and changing the collection are made by the Commission for Purchases, Donations and Deposits formed in 1990. Since 2008 the Department of Collections and Inventories is responsible for taking care of Zachęta’s collection.
The collection was started by the picture of Józef Simmler
Death of Barbara Radziwiłł. Exhibits mainly came from donations and last wills. At the end of the century, the collection already comprised over one thousand exhibits. Thus also with regard to space and storage the construction of an own building became necessary.
The Department for Documentation archives life and work of Polish artists since 1945. In addition to biographical notes, one does also find a list of exhibitions the respective artists took part in as well as newspaper clipping
s and exhibition catalogues. The archive is accessible and can be used only at place.
The gallery's own bookshop is located on the ground floor of the building, offering catalogues, books and magazines of Polish and foreign artists as well as catalogues of exhibitions which took place at both Zachęta and Kordegarda.
The gallery also runs a separate Pedagogy Department which is responsible for the organisation of lectures, meetings and talks with artists and art historians, concerts, guided tours as well as the dissemination of knowledge about art in form of educational programmes.
street. It was basically additional exhibition space directed and organised by Zachęta, yet to a certain extent independent with regard to its exhibition programme.
In 2010 the Kordegarda Gallery moved to Gałczynskiego street, just off the historic Ulica Nowy Świat (English: New World Street). While still directed by Zachęta, the Kordegarda Gallery has clearly become more independent, devoting its attention above all to young artists both Polish and foreign.
The main idea is to present the artists within the context of urban structures and emphasize above all the cooperation of artist and gallery. In fact, the actual exhibition room is just as important as the art within which is why every artist is asked to work individually with the exhibition room and design the artwork especially for the given space.
Currently, Zachęta is updating both concept and programme of the Kordegarda Gallery.
was above all demonstrated by the censoring of various exhibitions due to blasphemy
.
In December 2000 the Polish right-wing politician Witold Tomczak damaged Maurizio Cattelan
's sculpture La Nona Ora and archieved the dismissal of then director Anda Rottenberg. In a letter addressed to the prime minister
Tomczak not only dennounced Rottenberg but also suggested her to curate "rather in Israel
than in Poland" and thereupon demanded the dismissal of the "civil servant of Jewish origin". Also was he proposing to prosecute the violation of religious sentiments.
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
most notable institutions for contemporary art. Situated in the centre of Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, the main aim of the gallery is to present and support primarily Polish contemporary art and artists. With numerous temporary exhibitions of well known foreign artists, the gallery has also established itself internationally.
The Polish term zachęta can be translated as encouragement or motivation and refers to the
Towarzystwo Zachęty do Sztuk Pięknych, the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts founded in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
in 1860.
Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts
Before 1860 there were in fact neither public museumMuseum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
s nor libraries
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
nor other generally accessible institutions which could have allowed for exchange among artists. As a consequence of the November Uprising
November Uprising
The November Uprising , Polish–Russian War 1830–31 also known as the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in the heartland of partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. The uprising began on 29 November 1830 in Warsaw when the young Polish officers from the local Army of the Congress...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
faced repressions making higher artistic education virtually impossible. The last major exhibition took place in 1845. After protests by artists during the 1850s, the Wystawa Krajowa Sztuk Pięknych (English: National Exhibition of Fine Arts) was eventually approved in 1858 and lead to negotiations with the Russian
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
rulers who in the end permitted the foundation of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in 1860.
The Society's statures were set by artists and art experts. A first official meeting and the election of a board of directors took place on December 13th in 1860. The board comprised twelve members, six of each artists and art experts, and was elected annually. The members remained in office for at least one month but no longer than one year.
The primary aim of the Society was the dissemination of fine arts as well as support and encouragement of artists. Furthermore, its intention was to create general awareness of art among the Polish society. In 1860 the Society had 234 official registered members. Only one year later the number had increased to 1464.
Initially, all artworks were on display until they were sold. Soon enough that lead to crowded walls and a monotonous permanent exhibition. After fundamental changes made between 1900 and 1939, the permanent exhibition was shown only in addition to temporarily changing exhibitions.
Not only was the Society annually hosting Salons, but it also funded scholarships and offered other aid to young artists, both members and candidates.
The Building
Ever since its foundation, the Society was seeking after its own headquarter corresponding to its exhibition activities. Following negotiations between directors and sponsors from the city of Warsaw, the new headquarter building was finally erected between 1898 and 1900 according to plans by Stefan Szyller, a then well known architect from Warsaw. Before, the Society was renting spaces in different buildings. Since its official opening in 1900 the Zachęta building was in fact the seat of several institutions:- 1900-1939: Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts
- 1939-1945: House of German Culture
- 1945-1989: Central Bureau for Art Exhibitions
- 1989-2003: Zachęta State Gallery of Art
- since 2003: Zachęta National Gallery of Art
Similar to many other exhibition buildings of the 19th century, the Zachęta building belongs to the category of European
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
palaces of culture and was registered as a historical monument
Monument
A monument is a type of structure either explicitly created to commemorate a person or important event or which has become important to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, or simply as an example of historic architecture...
in 1965.
First tenders for the design of a new building were already put out in 1862. However, due to a lack of financial resources the plans were not realized. After the Society was given building ground by the municipality, another competition was announced in 1894 won by the Warsaw architect Stefan Szyller. He presented an architectural
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
design in neo-Renaissance style with classical
Classical architecture
Classical architecture is a mode of architecture employing vocabulary derived in part from the Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, enriched by classicizing architectural practice in Europe since the Renaissance...
elements. The portal
Portal (architecture)
Portal is a general term describing an opening in the walls of a building, gate or fortification, and especially a grand entrance to an important structure. Doors, metal gates or portcullis in the opening can be used to control entry or exit. The surface surrounding the opening may be made of...
is ornamented with allegorical
Allegory
Allegory is a demonstrative form of representation explaining meaning other than the words that are spoken. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation...
figures and sculptural
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
works by Zygmunt Otto. The architrave
Architrave
An architrave is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of the columns. It is an architectural element in Classical architecture.-Classical architecture:...
of the building is engraved with the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
word Artibus.
The construction works began in 1898. In December 1900 the front building was officially opened followed by the opening of the south wing in 1903. Both opening and extension of the building were exceptionally well reviewed. Szyller's plans originally included the construction of two more wings which could not be implemented at that time. In 1958 however, the Ministry of Art and Culture decided to reconstruct the building. Surrounding houses were destroyed during the war and thus involuntarily gave way to an extension of the building. The Warsaw architects Oskar Hansen, Lech Tomaszewski and Stanisław Zamecznikow were entrusted with the reconstruction. Their concept intended a grid construction which would allow for an entirely free use and design of the interior space. In fact, the concept was not realized and the planned reconstruction postponed.
Eventually in 1982, the reconstruction plans were taken up again and executed by the Shop for Preservation of Monuments. From 1991 to 1993 the reconstruction actions were supervised and executed by the company Dom i Miasto (English: Home and City). Also the company is responsible for the extension of the staircases inside the building which allowed for a direct access to the exhibition halls within the new part of the building. The resulting monumental
Monument
A monument is a type of structure either explicitly created to commemorate a person or important event or which has become important to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, or simply as an example of historic architecture...
perspective
Perspective
- Literally, in visual topics :* Perspective , the way in which objects appear to the eye.* Perspective , representing the effects of visual perspective in graphic arts- Metaphorically, in relation to cognitive topics :...
is emphasized by the Gladiator, a work by the Polish sculptor Pius Weloński which remained from the Society's former collection.
The extension of the building not only entailed a larger exhibition space but also a depot to store artworks, an unloading platform as well as an office wing with a separate entrance. The largest exhibition hall was named after the Polish painter Jan Matejko
Jan Matejko
Jan Matejko was a Polish painter known for paintings of notable historical Polish political and military events. His most famous works include oil on canvas paintings like Battle of Grunwald, paintings of numerous other battles and court scenes, and a gallery of Polish kings...
. Another room is named after Gabriel Narutowicz
Gabriel Narutowicz
Gabriel Narutowicz was a Lithuanian-born professor of hydroelectric engineering at Switzerland's Zurich Polytechnic, and Poland's Minister of Public Works , Minister of Foreign Affairs , and the first president of the Second Polish Republic....
, the first president of the Second Polish Republic
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
who was assassinated at Zachęta on December 16th in 1922 by Eligiusz Niewiadomski
Eligiusz Niewiadomski
Eligiusz Niewiadomski was a Polish modernist painter and art critic who belonged to the right-wing National Democratic Party till 1904 and later continued supporting it. In 1922 he assassinated Poland's first President, Gabriel Narutowicz.-Life:Niewiadomski was born into a family of gentry descent...
, a Polish painter and critic. To commemorate the president and Wojciech Gerson
Wojciech Gerson
Wojciech Gerson was a Polish painter and professor.Born in Warsaw, Gerson enrolled at the Warsaw Fine Arts Academy and graduated with honorable mention and a scholarship to St. Petersburg Academy of Arts where he studied historical painting under A. T. Markov. He graduated from St. Petersburg with...
, one of the founders of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts, two plaques were revealed during the gallery's anniversary celebrations in 2000.
1939 to 1945
During the Invasion of Poland at the beginning of the Second World War almost all surrounding buildings were destroyed. Only the Zachęta building remained comparatively undamaged. Following the Polish capitulation, the German units occupied the building and converted it into the House of German Culture which then was mainly used for propaganda purposes. The Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts was dissolved. The artworks as well as other documents belonging to the Society were largely brought to the Muzeum Narodowe or confiscated and sent to Germany. In fact, the transport took place on open trucks without any proper form of documentation.During the Warsaw Uprising
Warsaw Uprising
The Warsaw Uprising was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance Home Army , to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany. The rebellion was timed to coincide with the Soviet Union's Red Army approaching the eastern suburbs of the city and the retreat of German forces...
the Zachęta building was heavily damaged by artillery and bombs and thus needed to be fully renovated at the end of the war.
Also by the end of the war they found traces of a flammable substance, suggesting that German units probably planned to set the building alight shortly before their withdrawal.
1945 to 1989
After the war, the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts was not reactivated. It was replaced by the Centralne Biuro Wystaw Artystycznych (English: Central Bureau for Art Exhibitions) which was founded in 1949 by the Ministry for Art and Culture at request of the Association for Fine Arts Poland.In 1951 the exhibition activities were taken up again.
The central bureau was responsible for the organisation of art exhibitions as well as any other form of artistic activity throughout the entire country. In the very year of its foundation, additional branch offices opened in Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
, Katowice
Katowice
Katowice is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, on the Kłodnica and Rawa rivers . Katowice is located in the Silesian Highlands, about north of the Silesian Beskids and about southeast of the Sudetes Mountains.It is the central district of the Upper Silesian Metropolis, with a population of 2...
and Poznań
Poznan
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
. They were followed by offices in Łódź, Zakopane
Zakopane
Zakopane , is a town in southern Poland. It lies in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998 it was in of Nowy Sącz Province, but since 1999 it has been in Lesser Poland Province. It had a population of about 28,000 as of 2004. Zakopane is a...
, Gdańsk
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
, Szczecin
Szczecin
Szczecin , is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland on the Baltic Sea. As of June 2009 the population was 406,427....
and Wrocław in 1951 and finally by offices in Olsztyn
Olsztyn
Olsztyn is a city in northeastern Poland, on the Łyna River. Olsztyn has been the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship since 1999. It was previously in the Olsztyn Voivodeship...
und Opole
Opole
Opole is a city in southern Poland on the Oder River . It has a population of 125,992 and is the capital of the Upper Silesia, Opole Voivodeship and, also the seat of Opole County...
in 1958. In 1962 a separate department was set up exclusively responsible for the Warsaw International Poster Biennial which took place in 1968.
Eventually, the Central Bureau for Art Exhibitions became the most important institution within the area of cultural policy. During the 1960s attention was especially paid to art education and communication of art. To create an ideological awareness, the main focus was above all on the support of teachers and pupils as they would make the audience contemporary art would direct itself to.
The 1980s were particularly characterized by the radical political changes related to the declaration of martial law
Martial law in Poland
Martial law in Poland refers to the period of time from December 13, 1981 to July 22, 1983, when the authoritarian government of the People's Republic of Poland drastically restricted normal life by introducing martial law in an attempt to crush political opposition to it. Thousands of opposition...
leading also to a boycott of all official galleries. In fact, the central bureau never really recovered from those drastic failures.
After 1989
Both the fall of the Berlin WallBerlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
and the fall of the Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
changed the political circumstances fundamentally and also affected the structure of the central bureau. Barbara Majewska who was then the director of the bureau, initiated that the bureau moved away from its former old and centralistic structures. On May 30th in 1994 the Central Bureau for Art Exhibitions was finally closed and turned into the Zachęta State Gallery.
In 2003 the Polish minister of culture
Minister of culture
A culture minister is a Cabinet position in some governments responsible for protecting the national heritage of a country and promoting cultural expression....
Waldemar Dąbrowski renamed the gallery Narodowa Galeria Sztuki (English: National Gallery of Art).
Exhibitions
Marking the 100th anniversary of the gallery, the exhibition Polonia - Polonia was hosted in 2000 featuring over 100 exhibits from different epochs and from different types of media. However, all artworks presented national subjects.Within the same year the gallery opened the exhibition Słońce i inne Gwiazdy (English: The Sun and other Stars) based on a survey taken in 1999. Directed above all to Polish art historians, critics and curators, the survey asked for the most important artists of the 20th century. It was above all directed to Polish art historians, critics and curators. The result were two lists: one presenting the most important Polish artists of the 20th century and one presenting the most important foreign artists of the 20th century.
The exhibition Słońce i inne Gwiazdy showed ten of the elected Polish artists: Magdalena Abakanowicz
Magdalena Abakanowicz
Magdalena Abakanowicz is a Polish sculptor. She is notable for her use of textiles as a sculptural medium. She was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań, Poland from 1965 to 1990 and a visiting professor at University of California, Los Angeles in 1984...
, Tadeusz Kantor
Tadeusz Kantor
Tadeusz Kantor was a Polish painter, assemblage artist, set designer and theatre director. Kantor is renowned for his revolutionary theatrical performances in Poland and abroad.- Life and career :...
, Katarzyna Kobro
Katarzyna Kobro
Katarzyna Kobro was a Polish sculptor of Latvian origin. She studied at the School of Painting, Sculpture and Drawing, the second Free Workshops , Moscow, 1917-20. In 1920 she moved to Smolensk, and in 1921 she married WLADYSLAW STRZEMINSKI. In 1920-22 she was associated with the Vitebsk-based...
, Roman Opałka, Henryk Stażewski
Henryk Stazewski
Henryk Stażewski was a Polish painter, considered to be a pioneer of the classical avant-garde of the 1920s and 1930s. He was a foremost representative of the Constructivist movement, as well as the co-creator of the Geometric Abstract art movement....
, Władysław Strzemiński, Alina Szapocznikow
Alina Szapocznikow
Alina Szapocznikow was a Polish sculptor.As a Jew, she was imprisoned in the Pabianice and Łódź Ghettos and in Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen and Theresienstadt Nazi concentration camps. She was the wife of Polish graphic designer Roman Cieślewicz...
, Witkacy, Witold Wojtkiewicz
Witold Wojtkiewicz
Witold Wojtkiewicz was a Polish neoromantic painter. He started his education at the Warsaw School of Drawing in 1898 and continued at the Academy in Kraków. His original and inventive work anticipated Polish Expressionism. Wojtkiewicz often employed grotesque motifs and irony in his work...
and Andrzej Wróblewski
Andrzej Wróblewski
Andrzej Wróblewski was a Polish painter who died in a mountaineering accident in 1957 when he was only 29. He is recognized by many as one of Poland's most prominent artists in the early post World War II era, creating an individualistic approach to figurative painting.-Early life:Wróblewski was...
. Also in 2000 the gallery launched an exhibition presenting ten of the most important foreign artists including Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
, Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...
, Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys was a German performance artist, sculptor, installation artist, graphic artist, art theorist and pedagogue of art.His extensive work is grounded in concepts of humanism, social philosophy and anthroposophy; it culminates in his "extended definition of art" and the idea of social...
, Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Considered by some to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art...
, Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky was an influential Russian painter and art theorist. He is credited with painting the first purely-abstract works. Born in Moscow, Kandinsky spent his childhood in Odessa. He enrolled at the University of Moscow, studying law and economics...
, Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
, Kazimir Malevich
Kazimir Malevich
Kazimir Severinovich Malevich was a Russian painter and art theoretician, born of ethnic Polish parents. He was a pioneer of geometric abstract art and the originator of the Avant-garde Suprematist movement.-Early life:...
, Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
, Piet Mondrian
Piet Mondrian
Pieter Cornelis "Piet" Mondriaan, after 1906 Mondrian , was a Dutch painter.He was an important contributor to the De Stijl art movement and group, which was founded by Theo van Doesburg. He evolved a non-representational form which he termed Neo-Plasticism...
and Constantin Brancusi
Constantin Brancusi
Constantin Brâncuşi was a Romanian-born sculptor who made his career in France. As a child he displayed an aptitude for carving wooden farm tools. Formal studies took him first to Bucharest, then to Munich, then to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris...
.
In 2000 the Swiss art historian Harald Szeemann
Harald Szeemann
Harald Szeemann was a Swiss curator and art historian.-Life:Szeemann was born in Bern. He studied art history, archaeology and journalism in Bern and Paris, and in 1956 he began working as an actor, stage designer and painter, as well as doing one-man shows. He started creating exhibitions in 1957...
curated an exhibition featuring Maurizio Cattelan
Maurizio Cattelan
Maurizio Cattelan is an Italian artist based in New York. He is known for his satirical sculptures, particularly La Nona Ora , depicting the Pope John Paul II struck down by a meteorite....
s La Nona Ora (English: The ninth Hour). The artwork shows Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
hit and buried by a meteor
METEOR
METEOR is a metric for the evaluation of machine translation output. The metric is based on the harmonic mean of unigram precision and recall, with recall weighted higher than precision...
. As the influence of the Catholic Church in Poland still is very strong, the presentation of Cattelan's work lead to a public scandal.
Permanent Collection
The permanent collection of Zachęta National Gallery of Art today comprises 3600 objects of which about 700 are paintings, almost 80 are video works and around 100 are sculptures and installations. In addition, the gallery owns an extensive collection of over 2600 works on paper such as graphic works, drawings and photographs. Polish artists from the 20th century like Tadeusz KantorTadeusz Kantor
Tadeusz Kantor was a Polish painter, assemblage artist, set designer and theatre director. Kantor is renowned for his revolutionary theatrical performances in Poland and abroad.- Life and career :...
, Henryk Stażewski
Henryk Stazewski
Henryk Stażewski was a Polish painter, considered to be a pioneer of the classical avant-garde of the 1920s and 1930s. He was a foremost representative of the Constructivist movement, as well as the co-creator of the Geometric Abstract art movement....
and Alina Szapocznikow
Alina Szapocznikow
Alina Szapocznikow was a Polish sculptor.As a Jew, she was imprisoned in the Pabianice and Łódź Ghettos and in Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen and Theresienstadt Nazi concentration camps. She was the wife of Polish graphic designer Roman Cieślewicz...
are represented within the collection as well as world famous Polish contemporary artists such as Mirosław Bałka, Katarzyna Kozyra
Katarzyna Kozyra
Katarzyna Kozyra is a Polish video artist. She graduated in 1993 from the Warsaw Academy of Fine Art and received a Paszport Polityki award in 1997. She has exhibited internationally since 1997, at venues including Brown University and Carnegie International in the U.S.Her art was involved in a...
, Zbigniew Libera
Zbigniew Libera
Zbigniew Libera is a Polish artist. Born in Pabianice, Poland, he has become well known for the controversial LEGO Concentration Camp Set that he designed in 1996. The LEGO Corporation gave Libera the bricks for free without a clear vision of Libera's project and not knowing he would use them for...
, Wilhelm Sasnal
Wilhelm Sasnal
Wilhelm Sasnal is a Polish painter. Sasnal received his diploma of painting in 1999 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków.-Early life and career:Wilhelm Sasnal was born in Tarnów, Poland, in 1972...
and Krzysztof Wodiczko
Krzysztof Wodiczko
Krzysztof Wodiczko, born April 16th 1943, is an artist renowned for his large-scale slide and video projections on architectural facades and monuments...
.
The works of the collection not only reflect the often complicated past of the institution, but also show the by now clearly defined focus of the gallery. Today, above all works of contemporary Polish artists enter the collection, either works that have been shown in the gallery before or works which were produced in cooperation with the gallery. That also applies for works and projects which have not been realized locally such as the Polish Pavilion at the Biennale in Venice. There is no permanent exhibition of the collection. The works either become integrated in temporary shows or are on loan for exhibitions in other Polish institutions or abroad.
Decisions about enlarging and changing the collection are made by the Commission for Purchases, Donations and Deposits formed in 1990. Since 2008 the Department of Collections and Inventories is responsible for taking care of Zachęta’s collection.
Józef Simmler
Józef Simmler was a Polish painter known for his classical style and his Polish subjects.Perhaps his most famous work is "Death of Barbara Radziwillowna" , an oil on canvas work completed in 1860...
Death of Barbara Radziwiłł. Exhibits mainly came from donations and last wills. At the end of the century, the collection already comprised over one thousand exhibits. Thus also with regard to space and storage the construction of an own building became necessary.
Library
In fact, the collection of information about artists and artworks is as least as important as the collection of the artworks as such. The Zachęta library includes- catalogues: about Polish artists who are working in Poland and abroad, about foreign artists who are working in Poland as well as catalogues about certain cycles of exhibitions. The catalogue collection counts as one of the most extensive in Poland.
- books: above all about contemporary art but also about related subjects.
- magazines: Polish as well as foreign magazines about art in general.
The Department for Documentation archives life and work of Polish artists since 1945. In addition to biographical notes, one does also find a list of exhibitions the respective artists took part in as well as newspaper clipping
Clipping
-Words:* Clipping , the cutting-out of articles from a paper publication* Clipping , shortening the articulation of a speech sound, usually a vowel* Clipping , the formation of a new word by shortening it, e.g...
s and exhibition catalogues. The archive is accessible and can be used only at place.
The gallery's own bookshop is located on the ground floor of the building, offering catalogues, books and magazines of Polish and foreign artists as well as catalogues of exhibitions which took place at both Zachęta and Kordegarda.
The gallery also runs a separate Pedagogy Department which is responsible for the organisation of lectures, meetings and talks with artists and art historians, concerts, guided tours as well as the dissemination of knowledge about art in form of educational programmes.
Project Kordegarda
The Kordegarda Gallery (English: literally: guardroom) was founded in 1956 as a branch of Zachęta and then situated on Warsaw's famous Krakowskie PrzedmieścieKrakowskie Przedmiescie
Krakowskie Przedmieście is one of the most impressive and prestigious streets of Poland's capital.Several other Polish cities also have streets named Krakowskie Przedmieście. In Lublin, it is the main and most elegant street...
street. It was basically additional exhibition space directed and organised by Zachęta, yet to a certain extent independent with regard to its exhibition programme.
In 2010 the Kordegarda Gallery moved to Gałczynskiego street, just off the historic Ulica Nowy Świat (English: New World Street). While still directed by Zachęta, the Kordegarda Gallery has clearly become more independent, devoting its attention above all to young artists both Polish and foreign.
The main idea is to present the artists within the context of urban structures and emphasize above all the cooperation of artist and gallery. In fact, the actual exhibition room is just as important as the art within which is why every artist is asked to work individually with the exhibition room and design the artwork especially for the given space.
Currently, Zachęta is updating both concept and programme of the Kordegarda Gallery.
Controversies
In the past, the influence of the catholic church in PolandRoman Catholicism in Poland
Ever since Poland officially adopted Latin Christianity in 966, the Catholic Church has played an important religious, cultural and political role in the country....
was above all demonstrated by the censoring of various exhibitions due to blasphemy
Blasphemy
Blasphemy is irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things. Some countries have laws to punish blasphemy, while others have laws to give recourse to those who are offended by blasphemy...
.
In December 2000 the Polish right-wing politician Witold Tomczak damaged Maurizio Cattelan
Maurizio Cattelan
Maurizio Cattelan is an Italian artist based in New York. He is known for his satirical sculptures, particularly La Nona Ora , depicting the Pope John Paul II struck down by a meteorite....
's sculpture La Nona Ora and archieved the dismissal of then director Anda Rottenberg. In a letter addressed to the prime minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Tomczak not only dennounced Rottenberg but also suggested her to curate "rather in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
than in Poland" and thereupon demanded the dismissal of the "civil servant of Jewish origin". Also was he proposing to prosecute the violation of religious sentiments.