Polish identity forged amid

political changes

Many artists influenced by time studying in Paris

By Alan G. Artner
Tribune art critic
Published June 29, 2006

In the last 30 years, the Art Institute of Chicago and Museum of Contemporary Art each hosted exhibitions that explored aspects of modern art in Poland, though because the one focused on geometric abstraction and the other on photography, we received only narrow views of a broad national development.

"The Colors of Identity: Polish Art at Home and Abroad, 1890-1939" thus offers Chicagoans -- at the Smart Museum of Art -- a first survey of modern Polish painters and sculptors not only within the country but also abroad, which meant chiefly in France, the crucible of modernism and center of the artistic universe.

The excellent show may therefore be seen nationally and internationally. The former focuses on artmaking in Poland for half a century, during which art helped establish a collective sense of self amid changing politics and boundaries. The latter gives the enjoyment of tracing European movements and styles through first-rate Polish practitioners who went to Paris.

Of course, over 50 years, factors contributing to identity also changed, so that at the start of the exhibition looking to Western Europe was progressive whereas at the end it was thought to interfere with national allegiance. But this makes the show more interesting rather than less, as different forms and intensities of modern art are shown throughout, presenting parallels with other countries, such as the United States and Russia, during the same period.

At the end of the 19th Century, Polish artists studied abroad, some staying, others returning. Those who went back often joined artistic groups whose goal was to create works that could compete in international forums. This usually meant responding to an international current such as Symbolism or Expressionism and adapting it to Polish subject matter.

Thus the most impressive artists on view -- Boleslaw Biegas, Wlodzimierz Blocki, Olga Boznanska, Mela Muter, Eugeniusz Zak -- are followers whom we judge by Western European standards. They are obviously important to modern Polish art, though there are others -- Roman Kramsztyk, Jacek Malczewski, Jozef Pankiewicz, Jozef Tadeusz Makowski, Joachim Weingart -- who may be their equals, less as painters than influences in some phase of developing national consciousness.

The surprises for this viewer were Boznanska and Muter, who easily rank with the strongest women artists of the era. Boznanska is shown to be a painter of nearly disappearing portraits and still lifes that suggest an almost painful delicacy. Muter is tougher and with a range that extends from the fin de siecle weariness of the portrait of her sister to the formal and chromatic bustle of her 1925 "Harbor at Collioure." These would be compelling artists anywhere, not just in Poland.

But there are more to discover among those who stayed in Paris. The only artist known here is Mojzesz Kisling. So this part of the show turns up "little masters" at every turn, substantially adding to one's knowledge, stimulation and pleasure.

"The Colors of Identity: Polish Art at Home and Abroad, 1890-1939" continues at the Smart Museum of Art, 5550 S. Greenwood Ave., through Sept. 17. 773-702-0200.

----------

aartner@tribune.com