This exhibition ends Antoni Rząsa Year (held in 2010 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Rząsa's death) and features the art work of the eminent sculptor (1919-1980) who was strongly connected with Zakopane's artistic circle. Antoni Rząsa's works are shown in the context of his long-lasting friendship with Władysław Hasior, another outstanding sculptor. The sculptures on display come from Rząsa family's collection and the Tatra Museum.

 

 

The exhibition of photographs by Leon Barszczewski that come from the collection of Igor Strojecki, his great-grandson. The exhibition accompanies "Oriental Carpets from the Collection of Włodzimierz and Jerzy Kulczycki".

 

Around 500 species of insects from the collection of Marian Bielewicz will be on display. Assembled in the 1970s by the naturalist Marian Bielewicz (1915-1988), it features insects found in the Tatras and the neighbouring Podtatrze region and includes butterflies along with caterpillars and their host plants, dragonflies and beetles. This collection suitably demonstrates the beauty of insects and the important role they play in the natural world of the Tatras.

 

An exhibiton of works by Jan Jachymiak, one of the first post-war glass painters of the Podhale region, who now lives permanently in Chicago. In 2010, Jan Jachymiak returned to his artistic work after a break of many years. The artist has prepared a few dozen new paintings for this display at the Tatra Museum, which will be Jachymiak’s first exhibition in Poland after a 40-year absence; a comeback to his country and to Zakopane – where he had lived, worked and created before his departure to the USA.

 

 

An exhibition from a series to showcase the artistic work of Zakopane's contemporary artists, presents the work of Franciszek Wójcik (1903-1984). After graduating from the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts, he spent most of his life in Zakopane, creating and participating in the local artistic life. His main field of work was landscape painting. The exhibition will display chosen Tatra and Podhale landscapes from the artist's family collection.

 

The exhibition will present the output of the artistic community and the artists that temporarily settled in Zakopane, for whom the Tatra mountains and the Highlander culture were an important inspiration. It encompasses the years 1880 to 1939, when the local artistic milieu was formed, at first in the circle of the School of Wood Crafts and lacemaking school, then in the circle of the creator of the Zakopane Style, Stanisław Witkiewicz, and his idea of a Polish national art, through the years when Zakopane's artists organized themselves in "Sztuka Podhalańska" (Podhale Art) Society and the "Kilim" Society, which both operated until the interwar period.

The exhibition will showcase paintings, engravings, sculptures, handicraft works and photographs as well as prints (posters, books, occasional prints and others) from the Tatra Museum collection as well as some that are on loan from other collections.

The exhibition will be held at the newest branch of the Tatra Museum- Oksza villa, which is the third building designed in the Zakopane Style by Stanisław Witkiewicz in 1894 and built by Highlander carpenters the year after. Oksza villa was restored and adapted for the Gallery of 20th Century Art in 2010.

 

 

An exhibition from the series to showcase the artistic work of Zakopane's contemporary artists. Jolanta Flach is a Zakopane journalist who graduated in environmental engineering but is an icon writer by vocation. She produces icons according to the Eastern canon, using the traditional technique of egg tempera. The subject-matter of her icons draws inspiration from Byzantine iconography. Jolanta Flach got to know the principles of designing and making icons from numerous courses in Poland, Ukraine, Romania and Greece. Works from the artist's private collection as well as the technical process of icon-writing will be on display.

 

Photography is less commonly associated with Poland's leading post-war sculptor, Władysław Hasior, even though he considered them as important throughout his creative life. The artist arranged his photographs in thematic series, to which he gave titles. Sharing the observations and reflections which accompanied Hasior's photography was as important for him as taking photographs. In his flat, he organized a "cinema" - slide shows with original commentary (which he also called jokingly "a small-town club"). The exhibition will display a series called "Roadside Poetry". It embraces photographs of advertisements and communist propaganda slogans taken from roadside posters, signboards and boards, which interested Hasior because of their content and context as well as their artistic form.

 

 

The post-war history of Zakopane is largely unacknowledged. Meanwhile, the last witnesses are passing away, and together with them the unique chance to document the town's recent history. The project "The People of Zakopane. In Search of an Identity" aims to partly fill this gap by presenting the significant personalities who were active in Zakopane between 1945 and 2010. The figures will be featured in portraits - large photographs, short life-histories, a few interesting small photos and one artefact connected with the person that explicitly identifies them; for an artist - a work of art, for a writer - a book or a manuscript, for a sportsperson - a medal or skis for example.

 

 

An exhibition from a series to showcase the artistic work of Zakopane's contemporary artists. Władysław Trebunia "Tutka" (born in 1942) graduated from the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts' Textile Department, but he has worked in different techniques (textile design, painting, stained-glass, glass, pastel, oil and gouache paintings). The local Podhale tradition and folklore constitute the main subjects of the artist's works. The exhibition will feature works chosen from various periods of his artistic activity, made in different techniques, including drawings, religious paintings, textiles and stained-glass designs.