“The Arch at the Press and Book Club Building is Waiting for Ornamentation”. The History of the Design and Execution of the Mosaic “The Bombing of Café Club” by Władysław Zych on the Building of the International Press and Book Club in Warsaw
Anna Wiszniewska
anna.wiszniewska@ispan.plInstitute of Art, Polish Academy of Sciences (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6546-076X
Abstract
The article concerns the history of the design and execution of ceramic decoration on the façade of the elevated enclosed passageway connecting the headquarters of the International Press and Book Club in Warsaw (Nowy Świat 15/17) and the residential and commercial building (Aleje Jerozolimskie 28). The construction of the building (designed by Zygmunt Stępiński and Mieczysław Kuźma) was completed in 1951. Its façade was designed from the outset to accommodate a monumental decoration of a propagandistic nature. One of the proposals for this decoration was put forward by Krzysztof Henisz, who designed an abstract composition of large-format ceramic tiles intended to symbolise the national banner, the war damage and the post-war reconstruction. This project was not implemented, probably because of its abstract nature, unacceptable in the vicinity of the headquarters of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party. Eventually, the commission for the design and execution of the decoration went to Władysław Zych. The topic of the composition, the bombing of Café Club, was officially chosen by the investor, the Social Fund for the Reconstruction of the Capital, but it can be assumed that the decision was made at a higher level. The unveiling of the mosaic took place on 21 July 1964. The work aroused understandable interest, but few opinions concerned the artistic qualities of the composition; the focus of interest was its theme.
Keywords:
Krzysztof Henisz, Władysław Zych, mosaic, art and propaganda in the People's Republic of Poland, the bombing of Café Club, "Łysa Góra experiment"References
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Authors
Anna Wiszniewskaanna.wiszniewska@ispan.pl
Institute of Art, Polish Academy of Sciences Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6546-076X
Anna Wiszniewska – a historian of art and design, an exhibition curator and academic lecturer, assistant professor at the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences, laureate of the Prof. Jerzy Łoziński Award (2017). Her research interests Focus on the artists and designers associated with the Centre for Folk and Art Industry (Centrala Przemysłu Ludowego i Artystycznego; Cepelia). She conducts primary research into the history of Polish design and applied art, with a particular focus on fashion, jewellery, ceramics and toy-making. She also pursues her scholarly interests as an exhibition curator. The monographic exhibition of the ORNO cooperative, which opened in 2019 at the Museum of Warsaw and of which she was the co-curator, summarised her long-term research into jewellery created in the Cepelia cooperatives.
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