Nowa synteza sztuki żydowskiej w Polsce
- Year of publication: 1999
- Source: Show
- Pages: 7-22
- DOI Address: http://dx.doi.org/10.15804/ksm199901
- PDF: ksm/03/ksm199901.pdf
The new synthesis of Judish Art in Poland
Judish art have never been the theme of the cyclic activities except dr lzabella Samek”s and professor Jan Samek's lectures (occasionally). All publications which have dealt with this theme until now arised several years ago (the historien Mayer Batlahan”s and Józef Szipper's works) or are only fragmentary (museums' catalogues). The quantity of Judish monuments of art preserved in our country and abroad contradicts this standpoint. ln spite of damages which occurred during The Second World War in Poland several hundred synagogues still exist. There are some architectural details as stucco and paint ornamentations. At about thousand cemeterys several thousand decorated tombstones remained (the oldest dates from 12th century and most of them from 19th century). A lot of museums and private collections preserved metal Judish wares and rarely manuscripts. embroideries. These are objects of cult used in synagogues and houses. Most of Polish judaicas were identificated in external collections (in USA. Israel. Praga. Budapest. Moscow. Leningrad and somewhere else). Unfortunately the Germans have destroyed all of wooden synagogues and a lot of monuments from stone temples (thousands of chandeliers. embroideries and manuscripts). Concerning the matter of good characteristics of Judish art in Poland the choise is very difficult. This arts has always accepted local stylistic forms and decorations. Nowadays. one can say that synagogues and judish houses were raised and ornamented by foreigners (ltalians), but mainly by Polish and Judish artists and craftsmen. Silver articles were made by Polish goldsmiths (Jan Pogorzelski in Warsaw. Stanislaw Weswalewicz in Kraków) as well as by Judish ones. But in painting Judish arts appeared in the latter part of the 19th century and in the 20th century. for instance Leopold Gotlieb (younger) and Artur Markiewicz. To sum up. the book which is being prepared now will have given, for the first time, honest and well illustrated picture of Judish art'in Poland.