In this blog post, we present a list of objects related to Polish cultural heritage in the collection of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. This listing is based on publicly available information in museum catalogues and the author's independent findings. It is preliminary in nature and further updating and revision is planned.

Our aim is not only to document the presence of these works in the museum's collection, but also - in the future - to expand the database with information on their provenance (origin), exhibition history and detailed artistic analyses.

Due to current copyright regulations, we cannot publish reproductions of most works. However, where possible, we provide links to the official museum catalogue, which includes images or additional information.

Unless otherwise stated, the objects were not on display at the time of publication and were outside the exhibition galleries. It is worth remembering that even works marked 'on display' may have been removed and may be temporarily unavailable.

Every effort is made to ensure that the information presented is reliable and up-to-date. However, the museum's collections are subject to change - if you notice inaccuracies or changes in the status of objects, please contact us.

Prints by Michał Płoński at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
1790-1812
Creator: Michal Plonski

The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive's collection includes two prints by Michal Plonski:
- "Man with Furcoat and Featherhead", ca. 1800-1812.
- 'Rembrandt's Beggar', c. 1790-1812.

Works by Alicia Halicka at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley
1910-1975
Creator: Alicja Halicka

The collection of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley includes two works by Alicja Halicka:
- Painting Interior at Thérèse Bonney.
- Drawing 'Thérèse Bonney', 1925-1945.

Works by Louis Marcoussis at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
1921-1934
Creator: Louis Marcoussis

The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive's collection includes two works by Louis Marcoussis:
- "The Counter" print from 1921
- "Gertrude Stein" print from 1934.

Paintings by Alexander Kobzdej at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
1935-1972
Creator: Aleksander Kobzdej

The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive's collection includes two paintings by Aleksander Kobzdej:
- "Blown Out", 1935-1972
- "Blue", 1935-1972.

"Town Landscape" painting by Piotr Potworowski in the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
1960
Creator: Piotr Potworowski

The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive holds the painting 'Town Landscape' by Piotr Potworowski. The work was created in 1960.

Henryk Stażewski's sculpture 'Relief #12' at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
1964
Creator: Henryk Stażewski

Henryk Stażewski's sculpture 'Relief #12' at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. The work was created in 1964.

Image "Composition IXC" by Adam Marczynski at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
1964
Creator: Adam Marczyński

The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive's collection includes the painting 'Composition IXC' by Adam Marczynski, made in 1964.

Edward Krasinski's sculpture 'Object in Space' at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
1964
Creator: Edward Krasinski

Edward Krasinski's sculpture 'Object in Space' at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. Work made in 1964.

Andrew Pietsch's "Beautiful Journey" print at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
1967
Creator: Andrzej Pietsch

The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive's collection includes the print 'Beautiful Journey' by Andrzej Pietsch, made in 1967.

Wojciech Fangor's painting 'M 48' in the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
1968
Creator: Wojciech Fangor

Wojciech Fangor is one of the most recognisable Polish artists working in the 20th century. His artistic path abounds in several fascinating turns. Fangor's works found their place in the canon of socialist realist art, and his 1958 study of space, prepared together with Stanisław Zamecznik, was a precursor to similar activities in world art. The author is permanently inscribed in the history of Polish poster art, being one of the main figures of the so-called Polish poster school. However, it was a solo exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in 1970, which in itself testified to the position he had gained in New York art, that cemented his role as one of the precursors of op-art. However, he became interested in the jittery and dynamic compositions leading up to op art earlier, as early as the early 1960s. In 1965, he was invited to participate in one of the most important exhibitions of this direction, 'The Responsive Eye', held at New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and curated by William C. Seitz. Two other artists with links to Poland, Julian Stanczak and Richard Anuszkiewicz, also participated in this exhibition. Visited by over 180,000 people, the exhibition was a great success and is considered the beginning of American op-art.

Fangor's artistic debut was an exhibition in 1949, where, at the dawn of Socialist Realism, he showed painting with a distinctly Cubist influence. However, Socialist Realism turned his art onto other tracks. Among the works from this period, a special place is occupied by 'Mother Korean' and 'Characters', which are not only some of the best works of the period, but are also questionable by their ambiguous contexts, which seem to grow in the self-ironic painting from 1953, showing the Palace of Culture and Science being carried in, which at first glance appears inverted. Moving away from socialist realism, he sought - like many others - a safe space in the poster. His poster for René Clément's 1952 film Malapaga's Walls brought him an award at the National Poster Exhibition.

In 1958, together with Stanisław Zamecznik, they prepared the spatial installation 'Study of Space' in the now-defunct salon of 'Nowa Kultura', discovering how dispersed backgrounds allow the construction of a dynamic image space. In the end, the artists did not treat them as independent compositions, but proposed a kind of environment. Twenty canvases arranged in the room created complex spatial relationships, creating a kind of open-ended work. The artists showed another exhibition devoted to the study of space at the Stedelijk Museum in 1959.

In 1961, Wojciech Fangor decided to leave Poland. Initially to Vienna, and from there to the USA in 1962 as a scholarship holder at The Institute of Contemporary Arts. He then briefly returned to Europe, in connection with receiving a Ford scholarship in West Berlin. He then spent a year at the Bath Academy of Art in Corsham, England. Eventually, however, he moved to the USA in 1966. He taught at, among others, Farleigh Dickinson University in Madison, N.J. (1966-1983) and the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts (1967-1968). Although it was his op-art paintings that brought him his greatest fame, the mid-1970s saw another turn in his work. The artist turned to so-called television paintings, which he painted until around 1984. Abstraction was replaced by figuration, or rather a variety of images of contemporary culture, including television. He was primarily interested in the media structure of the image, but also in its wider cultural context. He seems to approach it critically, although not without fascination, but one that analyses the medium, sensing its banality.

The artist stayed in the USA until 1999, when he decided to return to Poland. He then settled near Warsaw. In 2014, a year before his death, he designed a series of murals for the Warsaw underground.

His paintings are in many museum collections and private collections around the world, including: "Mf" from 1969 at El Museo del Barrio, "Number 17" at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York (the painting was shown in the exhibition "The Responsive Eye" in 1965.), 'Untitled' also at MoMA, 'M63' at the Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) in San Francisco, 'M5-1969' at the Carnegie Art Museum in Pittsburgh, 'M 48' at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive and 'M39' at the Smart Museum of Art in Chicago.

The Polonica Institute does not own the reproduction rights to the work, please visit the BAMPFA website at https://collection.bampfa.berkeley.edu/catalog/6616c26f-1260-4012-844b-fbcb5d813024

1968, 200 x 233, oil on canvas, cat. no. 1969.26, University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, gift of Leonard S. Field

Correspondence with Zbigniew Makarewicz at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
1974-1980
Creator: Zbigniew Makarewicz

The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive's collection contains correspondence with Zbigniew Makarewicz - two letters dating from 1974 and 1980.

Lech Mrożek posters in the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
1976
Creator: Lech Mrożek

The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive collection contains three posters by Lech Mrożek:
- Two posters entitled. "Does art still exist?"
- Untitled poster, circa 1976.

Wilhelm Sasnal's painting 'Cactus' at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
2005
Creator: Wilhelm Sasnal

Wilhelm Sasnal's painting 'Cactus' at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. The work was created in 2005, in oil on canvas.

1790-1812 (Prints by Michał Płoński); 1910-1975 (Works by Alicja Halicka); 1921-1934 (Works by Louis Marcoussis); 1935-1972 (Paintings by Aleksander Kobzdej); 1960 (Painting 'Town Landscape' by Piotr Potworowski); 1964 (Sculpture by Henryk Stażewski 'Relief #12'); 1964 (Painting 'Composition IXC' by Adam Marczyński); 1964 (Sculpture 'Object in Space' by Edward Krasiński); 1967 (Graphic 'Beautiful Journey' by Andrzej Pietsch); 1968 (Painting 'M 48' by Wojciech Fangor); 1974-1980 (Correspondence with Zbigniew Makarewicz); 1976 (Posters by Lech Mrożek); 2005 (Painting 'Cactus' by Wilhelm Sasnal).

Wilhelm Sasnal (malarz, autor filmów; Polska), Henryk Stażewski (malarz; Warszawa)(preview), Edward Krasiński (rzeźbiarz, malarz; Polska)(preview), Wojciech Fangor (malarz, grafik, plakacista, rzeźbiarz; Polska), Louis Marcoussis (grafik, malarz; Polska, Francja)(preview), Alicja Halicka (malarka, scenografka, projektantka kostiumów, ilustratorka; Polska, Francja, USA)(preview), Aleksander Kobzdej (architekt, malarz, rysownik, plakacista, ilustrator; Polska)(preview), Zbigniew Makarewicz (artysta współczesny, rzeźbiarz, performer; Polska)(preview), Lech Mrożek (artysta multimedialny; Polska)(preview), Michał Płoński (rysownik, grafik, malarz; Polska, Francja, Holandia)(preview), Adam Marczyński (malarz, grafik; Polska)(preview), Andrzej Pietsch (grafik; Polska)(preview), Piotr Potworowski (malarz; Polska, Francja, Szwecja, Wielka Brytania)(preview)

Bartłomiej Gutowski