Art: Creative energy

The exhibition "Exploring the Interwar Period in Polish Art" currently on in the National Museum in Warsaw gives the first cross-sectional overview of the Polish art from the years 1918-1939. It comprises over 300 items, loaned from more than 20 museums and private owners, featuring the most outstanding works along with less-known, but equally significant pieces of that period.

The exhibition is dominated by paintings and sculptures, but also presents decorative arts, including those in the Art Deco style - photo montages and posters, as well as avant-garde inter-war films. Many of the works are being presented for the first time.

"The exhibition presents a whole selection of various styles and artistic trends, which flourished in Poland in the inter-war period," said Katarzyna Nowakowska-Sito, the curator of the exhibition.

The period of 1918-1939 was a time of huge creative energy in Poland, which had just regained its independence. Still, the period was not free from tension. Thus, the artistic currents are presented in relation to the historical and social context of that time.

 The entire exhibition is divided into 12 sections, organized mainly in chronological order, with the key themes of the town, the machine, the new art, economic crisis, sports and film, among others. Nowakowska-Sito stressed the great potential of the artists of that time. "Before the Iron Curtain came down, Polish artists felt no inferiority towards the West - a thing often visible in the postwar period," she concluded.

The exhibition will be held until March 30 at the National Museum, Al. Jerozolimskie 3, in Warsaw. For more information log on to www.dwudziestolecie.mnw.art.pl/em.html