Fine arts under communism: the role of nonconformist painters in Poland between 1949 and 1989

Résumé du document

We might call them "unofficial", "dissident", "alternative" or "nonconformist", but the fact remains that all these artists wanted to create works of art outside the official system. During the communist period in Poland, this meant the rejection of the regulation of official art, or socialist realism, and the loyalty to artistic freedom and right to self-definition. From the late forties to the late eighties, artists tried to find a path along the ideological order of the regime. We will notice that political changes go hand in hand with changes in Polish art. The early fifties had the obligation of socialist realism and the political thaw following the death of Stalin gave a new face to Polish paintings. In the eighties, the creation of Solidarity and the Martial Law gave another direction to art. I will underline the place of fine arts among political and social change throughout the period between the implementation of the socialist system in 1949 and its collapse in 1989. Art can be a power but is often an elitist power. In the beginning, it was a very specific sphere of artists that refused socialist rules focusing on artistic matters, and which had little concern for political matters. But in the eighties, after a search for the public role in the communist society, artists and intellectuals supported the movement of society.

Extraits

[...] The artist is given a new role : an ideological and propagandist function. According to Miklos Haraszti, a Hungarian poet, artists were assigned the roles of “cheerleaders, quartermasters, flag-bearers, morale-boosters, equipped with precise battle assignments.” Włodzimierz Sokorski introduced social realism in Poland in 1949. Its success in the artists' sphere was gradual. The younger generation eagerly agreed on its principles while the older generation was less keen on this national art policy. The Communists took advantage of disputes between the generations of painters to attract enthusiastic young artists to the construction of a social order.” Those young painters were looking for something else than Colourist movement that had a very strong influence in Polish art before the war. [...]

[...] He was a member of the Communist Party for a while and in the early fifties in the he adopted the state-favoured style of socialist realism. But he is considered, until nowadays, as a key painter of this period and as the leader of infuriated artists. In the teaching he created socially engaged paintings and spoke out with conviction in favour of socialist realist doctrine. During the next years his paintings would be in line with imposed artistic and ideological canons. [...]

[...] The first sign of turning back to the thaw of 1956 appeared in the end of 1957, when the Party Central Committee decided on the closure of prostu”, an independent weekly in Warsaw. Gomulka really started to attack intellectuals in 1962. Gomulka never really considered artists and intelligentsia in general. For him, unlike workers and peasants, they were lazy and should be grateful for the very right to have intellectual occupations. The “Przegląd Artystyczny” was handed over to the Group of Realists that consisted of the personalities of socialist realism, as repressive measures against abstract art were enforced. [...]

[...] The “Movement of independent culture”, supported by the Church, comes back to national and religious symbol. This cooperation as not always been simple: there were sometimes doubts on the independence of the overtly religious paintings while some paintings were to opposite to the traditional notion of sacred art to allow a good collaboration. Nevertheless, meetings, shows and exhibitions were hold in churches and almost everybody among artists took part in it and adopted the sacred themes. True and deep changes appeared in artists groups: they were more and more interested in sacred subjects. [...]

[...] In 1981, Pomaranczowa Alternatywa was created in Wroclaw. This underground anarchist movement was a famous element of Polish opposition against communism. They used to organize happenings or to paint dwarfs on walls. Those street actions were used as an absurd weapon and left the police force helpless and unable to intervene. For instance, they mounted a special happening on the 20th anniversary of the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact troops. They aim at awaking people's conscious and make the authorities look ridiculous. [...]