From 29 July, the National Museum in Krakow has been hosting the temporary exhibition “A New Beginning. Modernism in the Second Republic of Poland’, comprises around half a thousand works of art, everyday objects, books, designs and models. It presents the diversity, dynamism and originality of modernism in Poland during the interwar period.

The exhibition at Krakow’s National Museum addresses the most important aspects of the processes taking place, such as the building of a new state, social reforms or everyday life-changing under the influence of technological developments.

The examples of architecture, urban planning concepts and interior furnishings presented at the exhibition speak of ambitions to rationalise the living space. Examples of painting, photographic and typographic experiments show attempts to renew human vision,” says the website of the Krakow City Council.

“After regaining independence, everyone rushed to build modernism, and artists were particularly heavily involved in it. This is very interesting and translates into the optimism, dynamism and expression of this exhibition”, said Katarzyna Bik from the National Museum in Krakow.

The exhibition is not encyclopaedic, but is a story about the dynamics, genesis and character of modernism in interwar Poland.

Some of the works for the exhibition have arrived from Ukraine. The arrival of the works in Krakow is the result of cooperation with the Lviv National Art Gallery and the National Museum in Lviv. The loaned works include the icon “Prophet Elijah” and watercolour depicting Princess Yaroslavna by Mykhailo Boychuk, “Self-portrait in a Temple” by Luna Drexler and the sculpture “Aviator”, as well as the design for a monument for the Lychakiv Cemetery by Janina Reichert-Toth.

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Adrian Andrzejewski