Returns
Zbigniew Mikulski's Swiss collection
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Bolesław Biegas Museum in Warsaw
9 stycznia – 5 lutego 2024
Curator: Inga Kopciewicz
Exhibition producer: Marta KardasPreparation and conservation of objects: NCP.Art Works of Art Analysis and Conservation Studio – Agnieszka Markowska, Zofia Seyda, Joanna Truszkowska
invitation and poster design: Asia Bagnucka
The exhibition is based on the art collection gathered by Stanisław Zbigniew Mikulski (1925-2017), known primarily for his philatelic activities. Co-founder of the Polish Philatelic Association, as well as a member of the International Union of Philatelic Experts, he was the owner of the world's largest collection of Polish postal items from the 18th and 19th centuries, including the first stamp of the Kingdom of Poland, "Poland No. 1". Mikulski's parallel passion became fine arts, primarily saturated with the spirit of Polish patriotism, manifested, among others, in depicting history, folk tradition and the beauty of the home country.
The works collected in a thoughtfully and consistently created collection allow you to become acquainted with particular directions, trends and tendencies present in Polish art: romanticism, the "Munich School", academicism with an ancient trend, historicism with battle scenes, as well as realism with portrait representations, genre and naturalistic landscapes. Modern painting drawing on the achievements of impressionism, symbolism, imagery in the Young Poland style inspired in terms of "peasant mania" and works leaning towards the avant-garde artistic attitudes of the interwar period were also presented.
The authors of paintings and drawings include: Władysław Bakałowicz, Józef Brandt, Władysław Czachórski, Julian Fałat, Wojciech Gerson, Maurycy Gottlieb, Artur Grottger, Stanisław Górski, Wlastimil Hofman, Roman Kochanowski, Wojciech Kossak, Jacek Malczewski, Jan Matejko, Aleksander Orłowski, Fryderyk Pautsch, Tadeusz Popiel, Henryk Siemiradzki and Wincenty Wodzinowski.
The exhibition is complemented by graphic boards by Jan Piotr Norblin from France, who worked for the Czartoryski princes, and his student - Michał Płoński, as well as chronologically later, expressive woodcuts by Władysław Skoczylas and Stefan Mrożewski.
A sign of attachment to national tradition are certainly the eighteenth-century robe belts presented at the exhibition, which are an element of Polish nobility costume.
The purchase of part of the collection by a private person and its transfer from Switzerland - Mikulski's place of residence - to Poland is a unique event. Bringing the collection of Polish art "home" and its popularization caused a great stir. Paintings that had been considered lost for many years and were known only from literature were rediscovered; recently they were shown as part of reviews of Polish painting at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (1944) and at The Detroit Institute of Arts (1945). Let the unique paintings by Walery Brochocki, Władysław Szerner, Wacław Szymanowski, Włodzimierz Tetmajer, and Stanisław Witkiewicz presented at this exhibition become a symbol of the titular "returns".
The exhibition is accompanied by a printed catalog of works from the collection, with colorful reproductions giving the publication an album-like character.
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Inga Kopciewicz
