This richly illustrated catalogue of the exhibition presenting Polish independent art of the 1980s features reproductions of works by almost fifty artists active during the boycott of official institutions that followed the introduction of martial law in Poland in 1981. It also contains photographs by Erazm Ciołek, Chris Niedenthal, Jarosław Maciej Goliszewski, and Tadeusz Boruta, documenting exhibitions in Catholic churches, artists’ studios and spontaneous artistic activities in public spaces. Essays by art historians discuss, from various perspectives, the phenomenon of independent culture in the turbulent period of the decline of Communism.
“Thanks to the superb layout of the catalogue, we are given a reminder of the lasting achievements of Polish art in the 1980s. At that time, artists focused intensely on creating works of extraordinary symbolism and expressive power regardless of political circumstances that, for many reasons besides censorship, are usually adverse to creative expression.”
“The exhibition curator and authors of this book polemicise with the findings of art critics who have, until now, sought to portray the phenomenon of 1980s Polish art from a secular perspective predominant in the European Union. This different approach is worth supporting, as is every effort to contest the status quo in Polish artistic culture that, apart from brief periods of polemical outbursts, is otherwise dominated by adaptive attitudes.”
Excerpts from a review by Jan Stanisław Wojciechowski, artist, art critic and professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw
Artists: Maria Anto, Piotr Augustynek, Zbigniew Bajek, Grzegorz Bednarski, Krzysztof M. Bednarski, Maciej Bieniasz, Tadeusz Boruta, Tadeusz Brzozowski, Ewa Ciepielewska, Erazm Ciołek, Mirosław Dembiński, Zbigniew Maciej Dowgiałło, Jarosław Maciej Goliszewski, Ryszard Grzyb, Zbylut Grzywacz, Barbara Jonscher, Jerzy Kalina, Marian Kępiński, Marek Kijewski, Grzegorz Klaman, Grzegorz Królikiewicz, Jerzy Kośnik, Paweł Kowalewski, Stanisław Markowski, Jerzy Medyński, Aldona Mickiewicz, Piotr Młodożeniec, Jarosław Modzelewski, Andrzej Możejko, Eugeniusz Mucha, Chris Niedenthal, Grzegorz Pabel, Włodzimierz Pawlak, Janusz Petrykowski, Jerzy Piotrowicz, Stanisław Rodziński, Teresa Rudowicz, Jan Rylke, Marek Sapetto, Jacek Sempoliński, Bożena Sienicka, Stanisław Sobolewski, Leszek Sobocki, Jacek Sroka, Teresa Stankiewicz, Wiesław Szamborski, Tomasz Tatarczyk, Jerzy Tchórzewski, Krzysztof Tchórzewski, Andrzej Wajda, Ireneusz Walczak, Jacek Waltoś, Włodzimierz Wasyluk, Ryszard Woźniak
Essays: Barbara Schabowska, Bogusław Tracz, Tadeusz Boruta, Richard Drury, Piotr Kopszak, Dominika Górowska, Piotr Bernatowicz
