Museum of Art in Łódź

About

Muzeum Sztuki, or the Museum of Art in Łódź, is a museum of modern and contemporary art in Łódź, Poland, whose main goal is to research and display the history of avant-garde art, with a focus on Central and Eastern Europe. Founded in 1931, Muzeum Sztuki became the first museum in Europe and the second museum in the world (after The Museum of Modern Art in New York) dedicated to collecting and showcasing modern art. The museum opened to the public on 15 February 1931 as the International Collection of Modern Art, organized by several Polish avant-garde artists associated with the a.r. group, including Władysław Strzemiński, Katarzyna Kobro and Henryk Stażewski, among others. The early collection encompassed a diverse range of avant-garde styles such as Cubism, Futurism, Dada, Surrealism, Formism, and Unism. The museum's early years in the 1930s saw expansion under director Marian Minich, enriching the collection with Polish modern art. Following the end of World War II and the imposition of Stalinism in Poland, the museum remained under Minich's directorship and moved to the Poznański family palace in 1948. The same year, the Neoplastic Room, an experimental exhibition space designed...

Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź is primarily focused on studying and displaying the collection of 20th and 21st century art in a variety of contexts, as well as on providing progressive artistic interventions and enhancing the role of art as element of social life, e.g., through educational activities.

Its programme coincides with avant-garde project worked out at the turn of the 1920s and 1930s by the “a.r.” group or, more precisely, by Władysław Strzemiński, Katarzyna Kobro and Henryk Stażewski ) and with the idea developed by Ryszard Stanisławski (Muzeum's director in 1966–1992) of a “museum as a critical instrument”. These ideas are further expanded in the assumption, according to which a museum is capable of re-defining and updating notions pertaining to art and culture and establishing social relations with the involvement of art. Through exhibition, research, educational and publishing programme, the Muzeum strives to practice the idea of art as a way to experience, feel and understand the reality, which was a part of avant-garde dream of creative life available to all.

Muzeum Sztuki was established as a result of reorganisation of Łódź museums in 1930. The core of its collection is based on works of modern art collected in Poland and abroad by the a.r. group in the period 1929–1932 and supplemented until 1938. The initiator and the main driving force behind the action of collecting the donations from artists was a painter and art theoretician Władysław Strzemiński, actively supported by Katarzyna Kobro – a sculptor, Henryk Stażewski – painter, as well as Jan Brzękowski and Julian Przyboś – poets.

The Collection in its ideological dimension reflects Strzemiński's artistic preferences, although its final shape was the product of the activities of many people, including Henryk Stażewski, Hans Arp and Michel Seuphor. It presents an overview of avant-garde strands and tendencies of the late 1920s and includes masterpieces of Abstractionists, such as Hans Arp and SophieTaeuber-Arp, Theo van Doesburg, Jean Gorin, Jean Helion, Vilmos Huszar, Henryk Stażewski or Georges Vantongerloo. The collection also includes artworks of artists representing Cubism (e.g., Fernand Léger, Louis Marcoussis), Futurism (Enrico Prampolini), Dada ( Kurt Schwitters ), Surrealism ( Max Ernst, Kurt Seligmann), Formism (e.g., Leon Chwistek, Tytus Czyżewski ), “pure form” ( Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz ) or Unism (Władysław Strzemiński). The collection was initiated by the artists and took shape as a result of their solidarity-based international initiative to donate works against any artistic divisions.

Originally, the museum was housed on the first floor of the former town hall at Liberty Square (Plac Wolności) 1 and its full name read “The J. and K. Bartoszewicz Municipal Museum of History and Art” (named after Kazimierz Bartoszewicz, who donated his family collection of art to the city in the period 1928–1930). The first exhibition opened on 13 April 1930 and this date is considered to mark the beginnings of what is today Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź. Avant-garde art from the collection of "a.r" group was made available to the public on 15 February 1931. In 1935 Dr. Marian Minich was appointed the director of the museum and already in the initial years he expanded the collection with works that have complemented the picture of Polish modern art with Polish Formists, the Lviv group of surrealists Artes, and representative works of Jankel Adler and Karol Hiller.

Immediately after World War II, Muzeum Sztuki acquired paintings of Alexej Jawlensky. Soon, the museum was transferred to one of the palaces of the Poznański family, in Więckowskiego 36, which since 1948 has been one of its locations. Marian Minich was re-nominated as a director. It was he who adapted rooms in the palace to the needs of the museum and invited Władysław Strzemiński to cooperate, which resulted in the “Neoplastic Room” being added to the exhibition space. The collection of contemporary art was expanded with, inter alia, works by Jonasz Stern, Jerzy Nowosielski, and Alina Szapocznikow.

Ryszard Stanisławski and the Museum of Art in the 1950s

In 1950 the museum changed its name to Muzeum Sztuki (Museum of Art) in Łódź. The second director of the museum became Ryszard Stanisławski, who headed the institution in the years 1966–1991. His goal was to expand the international collection of modern and contemporary art. In his museum practice he accentuated the pivotal role of the “museum as a critical instrument” and preferred focusing the collection on phenomena that were perceived as open, creative and authentic. Stanisławski's efforts led to the acquisition of the first painting from Roman Opałka series of “counted” paintings (others were to follow), the collection of early works of Krzysztof Wodiczko, Mirosław Bałka, and representatives of Warsztat Form Filmowej (Film Form Workshop). Muzeum also received a collection of works by Czech artists acquired at the end of the Prague Spring (e.g. Jiří Kolář ). Mateusz Grabowski, owner of an avant-garde gallery in London, donated artworks representing British Pop Art and Op Art (e.g. Derek Boshier, Bridget Riley, and Pauline Boty ). American artists (e.g. Sam Francis, Lawrence Weiner, Barbara Kasten, and Chris Burden ) bestowed their works in exchange for artworks of Polish artists. The collection of works from the first Construction in Process (Polish: Konstrukcja w Procesie) festival donated by “Solidarity” (e.g. Peter Downsbrough, Dan Graham, and Richard Nonas ) enriched the representation of minimal art.

In a symbolic gesture of solidarity with Polish society, Joseph Beuys donated ca. 300 artworks from his archives within the framework of “Polentransport 1981”.

Insufficient exhibition space was a permanent problem of the Muzeum. In the early 1970s a tender was advertised for the construction of a new building for the museum but the project has never been successfully accomplished due to the economic crisis. In 1973 the museum acquired an industrialist's mansion Edward Herbst Palace in Księży Młyn (Priest's Mill). Prospects of having a building that could meet exhibition requirements of avant-garde art became real with plans to develop the Manufaktura Shopping and Entertainment Centre in the former Izrael Poznański factory.

In 2006 Jarosław Suchan was appointed the director of the museum and he has been holding the post ever since. Funds acquired from the European Union (under the Integrated Regional Development Operational Programme), the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Voivodeship Office, and the Marshal Office in Łódź were used to regenerate and modernise the former spinning mill in the factory of Izrael Poznański. In the autumn 2008 it became a new location of Muzeum Sztuki known as ms 2 offering the space of 3000 m 2, which houses the Collection of the 20th and 21st Century Art; further 600 m 2 are dedicated to temporary exhibitions.

The collection is exhibited in a way that departs from both the chronological arrangement of works of art and the idea of a ‘permanent exhibition’. New exhibition projects, whose aim is to uncover the potential of the collection anew, are underway within the framework of “works on the collection”. According to the programme: avant-garde is not treated as a closed chapter that belongs to the past but as a set of ideas, which may still be meaningful to a contemporary viewer. Muzeum Sztuki introduces the audience to contemporary and avant-garde art in locations at ms 2 and ms 1. In the years 2011-2013 exhibition space in the building in Więckowskiego was refurbished. Edward Herbst villa that holds Old Masters Collection was also renovated in 2013.

Muzeum Sztuki was established as a result of reorganisation of Łódź museums in 1930. The core of its collection is based on works of modern art collected in Poland and abroad by the a.r. group in the period 1929–1932 and supplemented until 1938. The initiator and the main driving force behind the action of collecting the donations from artists was a painter and art theoretician Władysław Strzemiński, actively supported by Katarzyna Kobro – a sculptor, Henryk Stażewski – painter, as well as Jan Brzękowski and Julian Przyboś – poets.

The Collection in its ideological dimension reflects Strzemiński's artistic preferences, although its final shape was the product of the activities of many people, including Henryk Stażewski, Hans Arp and Michel Seuphor. It presents an overview of avant-garde strands and tendencies of the late 1920s and includes masterpieces of Abstractionists, such as Hans Arp and SophieTaeuber-Arp, Theo van Doesburg, Jean Gorin, Jean Helion, Vilmos Huszar, Henryk Stażewski or Georges Vantongerloo. The collection also includes artworks of artists representing Cubism (e.g., Fernand Léger, Louis Marcoussis), Futurism (Enrico Prampolini), Dada ( Kurt Schwitters ), Surrealism ( Max Ernst, Kurt Seligmann), Formism (e.g., Leon Chwistek, Tytus Czyżewski ), “pure form” ( Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz ) or Unism (Władysław Strzemiński). The collection was initiated by the artists and took shape as a result of their solidarity-based international initiative to donate works against any artistic divisions.

Originally, the museum was housed on the first floor of the former town hall at Liberty Square (Plac Wolności) 1 and its full name read “The J. and K. Bartoszewicz Municipal Museum of History and Art” (named after Kazimierz Bartoszewicz, who donated his family collection of art to the city in the period 1928–1930). The first exhibition opened on 13 April 1930 and this date is considered to mark the beginnings of what is today Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź. Avant-garde art from the collection of "a.r" group was made available to the public on 15 February 1931. In 1935 Dr. Marian Minich was appointed the director of the museum and already in the initial years he expanded the collection with works that have complemented the picture of Polish modern art with Polish Formists, the Lviv group of surrealists Artes, and representative works of Jankel Adler and Karol Hiller.

Immediately after World War II, Muzeum Sztuki acquired paintings of Alexej Jawlensky. Soon, the museum was transferred to one of the palaces of the Poznański family, in Więckowskiego 36, which since 1948 has been one of its locations. Marian Minich was re-nominated as a director. It was he who adapted rooms in the palace to the needs of the museum and invited Władysław Strzemiński to cooperate, which resulted in the “Neoplastic Room” being added to the exhibition space. The collection of contemporary art was expanded with, inter alia, works by Jonasz Stern, Jerzy Nowosielski, and Alina Szapocznikow.

In 1950 the museum changed its name to Muzeum Sztuki (Museum of Art) in Łódź. The second director of the museum became Ryszard Stanisławski, who headed the institution in the years 1966–1991. His goal was to expand the international collection of modern and contemporary art. In his museum practice he accentuated the pivotal role of the “museum as a critical instrument” and preferred focusing the collection on phenomena that were perceived as open, creative and authentic. Stanisławski's efforts led to the acquisition of the first painting from Roman Opałka series of “counted” paintings (others were to follow), the collection of early works of Krzysztof Wodiczko, Mirosław Bałka, and representatives of Warsztat Form Filmowej (Film Form Workshop). Muzeum also received a collection of works by Czech artists acquired at the end of the Prague Spring (e.g. Jiří Kolář ). Mateusz Grabowski, owner of an avant-garde gallery in London, donated artworks representing British Pop Art and Op Art (e.g. Derek Boshier, Bridget Riley, and Pauline Boty ). American artists (e.g. Sam Francis, Lawrence Weiner, Barbara Kasten, and Chris Burden ) bestowed their works in exchange for artworks of Polish artists. The collection of works from the first Construction in Process (Polish: Konstrukcja w Procesie) festival donated by “Solidarity” (e.g. Peter Downsbrough, Dan Graham, and Richard Nonas ) enriched the representation of minimal art.

In a symbolic gesture of solidarity with Polish society, Joseph Beuys donated ca. 300 artworks from his archives within the framework of “Polentransport 1981”.

Insufficient exhibition space was a permanent problem of the Muzeum. In the early 1970s a tender was advertised for the construction of a new building for the museum but the project has never been successfully accomplished due to the economic crisis. In 1973 the museum acquired an industrialist's mansion Edward Herbst Palace in Księży Młyn (Priest's Mill). Prospects of having a building that could meet exhibition requirements of avant-garde art became real with plans to develop the Manufaktura Shopping and Entertainment Centre in the former Izrael Poznański factory.