The International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Arts and Industry in Paris in 1925 was the first opportunity for Poles after regaining their independence to present their artistic achievements at a world exhibition under the national flag. Winning 172 awards made this event one of the most important symbols of the Polish inter-war period, which was already surrounded by myth at the time. On the centenary of this triumph, we invite you on a multi-sensory journey to the Polish pavilion, tracing the surviving objects in foreign collections.

Metrics
Type of polonics: painting, sculpture
Chronology : circa 1925
Location: France, United States

The International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Arts and Industry in Paris ran from 28 April to October 1925. The exhibition was spread over a vast space in the city centre - from the monumental Esplanade des Invalides to the area around the Grand Palais. 21 countries took part. Poland won 172 prizes at the event. Regardless of whether Poland's participation was a real success, its significance lay primarily in the initiation of a model of state care for art and culture.

Selection of winners

The success of the Poles' appearance at the exhibition was largely due to the art critic Jerzy Warchałowski (1874-1939), commissioner of the Polish exhibition, who, as early as 1921, after receiving an invitation from the organisers, sent an open letter to artists, encouraging them to submit projects. In the proclamation, he emphasised the need to create works that were original and at the same time conformed to already existing Western standards. As a result of the competitions, artists originating from the Cracow Workshops and, after the First World War, associated with the circles of the Warsaw School of Fine Arts, the Municipal School of Decorative Arts and the School of Wood Industry in Zakopane, who were naturally able to respond to the need to combine modernity with local tradition, were invited to cooperate.

Methods of constructing Polish exhibition spaces

The exhibition spaces where Polish products were gathered were shaped to stimulate the body to interact and touch, engaging all the senses, imagination and emotions. The arrangement placed the greatest emphasis on the Polish pavilion on Cours la Reine - the so-called Street of Nations, located on the boulevards of the right bank of the Seine.
The building, designed by Józef Czajkowski (1872-1947), was conceived as a kind of architecture parlante - ' talking architecture'. The simple body, decorated with motifs of jambs taken from Zakopane art and referring to native folklore, was topped with a glass dome, reminiscent of Futurism, especially in evening lighting. The individual elements of the pavilion were meant to evoke certain associations: the wrought-iron grating designed by Czajkowski - folk cut-outs; the sculpture "Rhythm" by Henryk Kuna (1879-1945) - harmony and internal order; the sgraffito in the arcades with the coats of arms of the cities - the idea of unification of the state; the multicoloured decorations - the coarseness of folk art; and the white façade - the sacred art of rural churches and modernism. The interior furnishings were also thought out in a similar way: Józef Mehoffer's (1869-1946) stained-glass windows referred to the sphere of the sacred; Karol Stryjeński's (1887-1932) wooden benches to highland craftsmanship; Zofia Stryjeńska's (1891-1976) painted panneaux to the vitality of the Slavs, the life of the people in harmony with the rhythms of nature and the multinationality of the Republic; and the geometrised wooden furniture of Wojciech Jastrzębowski, as well as Zofia Stryjeńska's tapestries made of soft yarn - to the simultaneously modern and homely, rooted in tradition luxurious furnishings of the study interiors.
The second part of the Polish exhibition, comprising four rooms, was located in the Invalids Gallery, where visitors could see, among other things, Jan Szczepkowski's (1878-1964) wooden Christmas Chapel, which through the choice of material - pine wood, religious themes and the manner of execution - using processing techniques traditional to the Podhale region - alluded to the discourse of 'pre-Polishness' and the idea of a highland culture untouched by civilisation, at the same time reaching back to the modern style of Cubism. In addition, the Invalides Gallery featured interiors by Władysław Jastrzębowski, furnished with furniture designed by him that were more reminiscent of art déco than of Polish folk art, as well as an exhibition of batiks by Zofia Kogutówna, an attempt to translate floral ornamentation into Javanese technique. In addition, visitors to this part of the Polish exhibition were able to see folkloric kilims with geometric patterns.

The Poles also took care of the ephemeral setting of the show. In addition to the Lajkonik kiosk, designed by Karol Stryjeński and attracting attention with its colourful form, used for the sale of souvenirs, a café was erected where the need for taste could be satisfied. The space was complemented by the sounds of folk bands.

These were complemented by an exhibition of Poles in the Grand Palais, located in a remote location, which featured architectural designs, prints, examples of bookbinding, as well as those made by art students. This last section in particular was popular with visitors. Unexpectedly, due to the theft of products made by the Zakopane School of Wood Industry, for example, it provoked logistical problems.

Polonica associated with the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Arts and Industry in Paris in foreign collections

Despite the success of the Poles at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Arts and Industry in Paris in 1925, few of the items they exhibited found their way into public collections abroad. The detailed history of many of them remains unknown. Presumably, however, as in the case of the dismantled Tchaikovsky pavilion, fragments of which ended up in the Baths, they were destroyed.

For example, Zofia Stryjeńska's six "Seasons" panneaux, depicting depicted Slavic peoples and rituals, as well as personifications of successive months, were exhibited shortly after the Paris exposition, first at the Zachęta Gallery in Warsaw (1926), then in Krakow (1928), Lviv (1932) and finally in the United States (1933-1934). For a certain period between the wars, the series even adorned the building of the Polish Sejm (Parliament), but then it was divided up. Fragments of the composition found their way into public collections in Poland and private collections, while one - a narrow frame with the image of a woman in a red dress from the January-February panneau - found its way into the collection of the Polish Library in Paris.

Another spectacular work produced for the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Arts and Industry in Paris was Jan Szczepkowski's Christmas Chapel, awarded the Grand Prix, which is now in a church in Dourges. As noted by art historian Katarzyna Chrudzimska-Uhera, it was sold to France for only a third of the price, contrary to the financial expectations of the Polish side. Neither Jerzy Warchałowski's efforts to place it in the Parisian Museum of Decorative Arts (now MAD) nor the pipe dream to exhibit it in the Louvre were successful. In 1927, the work went to the provincial church of St Stanislaus in Dourges, located in a centre of Polish emigrants in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. The history of the making of this transaction reveals not only a political and representational fiasco, but also a commercial and export fiasco for a country that had only just regained its independence. The French public, although initially interested in the other version of exoticism offered by the Polish artists, but alluding to the familiar Cubist poetics, soon forgot about it. However, although many of the objects presented by the Poles did not gain international recognition immediately after the exhibition, the success of the exhibition had a positive impact on the professional situation of the participating artists. This is evidenced by the careers of artists such as Jan Szczepkowski and Zofia Stryjeńska, as well as many others who are now largely forgotten.

Years later, interest in this heritage is gradually reviving abroad - in 2019, the Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art in Denver (USA) acquired a geometrised wooden furniture set - a table and chairs, by Mieczysław Kotarbiński (1890-1943). The fact that objects from the 1925 Polish exhibition found their way into foreign public collections testifies to their progressive revaluation.

Further reading:
Zakopane. Wyrzeźbione. Namalowane, ed. P. Drabarczyk vel Grabarczyk, exhibition catalogue, Villa la Fleur, Warsaw 2023.
Art united Poland, J. Sosnowska in conversation with M. Tataj and K. Broszka, "Magazyn Teraz Polska "
Paris Exhibition 1925, IS PAN 2007.