Display of Polish Book Prints in Great Britain (1951–1951). Contribution to the Display Activity of the Office of Cultural Cooperation with Abroad and the Committee for Cultural Cooperation with Abroad
Anna Marcinowska
Warsaw, Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2053-5067
Abstract
Two little-known exhibitions of Polish book illustrations and covers are presented in the paper: the first was mounted by the Office of Cultural Cooperation with Abroad at the Ministry of Culture and Art (BWKzZ) displayed in the British countryside in 1950, and the second one, ‘updated’, was shown in London in February 1951. The latter was launched thanks to the efforts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, albeit in opposition to the opinion of the Committee for Cultural Cooperation with Abroad (KWKZ), an institution replacing the Office dissolved in mid-1950. The paper outlines the conflict stemming from this situation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MSZ) and KWKZ, thus between two institutions responsible at the time for mounting exhibitions of Polish art abroad, as well as the circumstances and reasons for which MSZ was forced by KWKZ to withdraw all the exhibitions previously organized by BWKzZ in Western countries. The decisions of KWKZ, being an institution actually established by Poland’s Communist Party (PZPR) in order to better control the cultural exchange with foreign countries, led to a ‘paralysis’ in the domain of displaying Polish art in the West. By early 1953, KWKZ had neither organized nor sent any major display behind the Iron Curtain, in 1951–1952 actually implementing the policy of Poland’s cultural ‘isolationism’ in relations with capitalist countries.
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Keywords:
cultural policy of the People’s Republic of Poland, Biuro Współpracy Kulturalnej z Zagranicą, Komitet Współpracy Kulturalnej z Zagranicą, exhibitions of Polish art abroad after 1945, Polish book graphics after 1945, Polish illustration after 1945References
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Authors
Anna MarcinowskaWarsaw, Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2053-5067
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