Exhibition “Diagonally by KrakArt Group”

The Casimir Pulaski Museum in Warka has been working tirelessly for over 50 years to document the lives and work of Poles abroad, paying special attention to compatriots who have settled in the United States of America. We conduct research, publish documents, and organize conferences and exhibitions to familiarize the general public with the achievements of Poles who went down in world history. We also showcase and promote the work of Polish visual artists whose fate brought them onto the American soil.

The Museum has featured a number of Polish-American artists, including Tadeusz Łapiński, Rafał Olbiński, Bartek and Leo Małysa, Jan David II Kuraciński, Ryszard Druch, outstanding sculptor Andrzej Pityński; we have shown the works of Polish illustrators from New York City, including Adam Niklewicz, Christopher Zacharow, Beata Szpura, and the Emotionalists, founded by Lubomir Tomaszewski. We are successful in pursuing our mission to form a "living monument to the Hero of Two Nations."

The year 2020 is when have the great honor and pleasure to present the works by seven artists from the KrakArt Group, based in Los Angeles. It is going to be a first for Poland, and the fact that the exhibition coincides with the Group's 40th anniversary is the icing on the cake. The artists who made a decision to showcase their works in Warka are: painter and founder Andrzej Kolo Kołodziej, graphic designer and painter Leonard Konopelski, painter and art conservator-restorer Witold Vito Wójcik, painter Kasia Czerpak-Węgliński, painter and art conservator-restorer Janusz Maszkiewicz, painter Joanna Fodczuk-Garcia, and sculptor and painter Tomasz Misztal.

The works they exhibit in Warka are an explosion of color, energy, and enthusiasm. Regardless of their technical and stylistic differences, they come together in unison; they create, show their works, organize concerts and poetry readings. Their Polish identity and a sense of community unite them. Interestingly, such artists are still relatively unknown in Poland despite numerous exhibitions in the United States.

The Group was first introduced to the audience at the Casimir Pulaski Museum in Warka by Szymon Bojko, an art historian and expert on emigration issues, during a lecture in 2005, and then in 2017 by Prof. Jan Wiktor Sienkiewicz during a Polish-American research conference in Warka, organized to commemorate the 50th anniversary of our Museum. The paper was entitled “KrakArt Group from California. Research on Polish art in the United States of America.” Prof. Sienkiewicz has also agreed to curate the present exhibition. He worked with art historian Anna Rudek-Śmiechowska, PhD, who also researches the history of Polish artists abroad and authors studies on Polish art groups in the USA, to give rise to the exhibition scenario. It exclusively features artists working in California, which is only a small fragment of the fascinating art world. Nevertheless, it presents illustrious art which remembers its roots, and awakens to life in the Californian sun.

May the exhibition shown at the Casimir Pulaski Museum in Warka be our gift to the KrakArt Group to mark their 40th anniversary. May the artists accept our thanks for upholding our common values and promoting Polish culture in the USA. I congratulate all group members on this beautiful anniversary and wish them much joy in continuing to create art and making their private and professional plans come true.

I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all those who have contributed to the exhibition. I would like to thank the Artists for lending us their works, for the trust they placed in our Museum and for organizing the transport of the works from the USA to Warka. I would like to extend a very special thank you to curator Prof. Jan Wiktor Sienkiewicz, who not only introduced us to the group, but also instilled in me the idea of presenting Polish artists from Los Angeles to the Warka community and made efforts to make the exhibition a reality. I would like to thank curator Anna Rudek-Śmiechowska, PhD for all her help in organizing the exhibition and publishing the catalog. The exhibition would not have been possible without the financial assistance of the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart Minister of Culture and National Heritage Professor Piotr Gliński for accepting the Honorary Patronage over the exhibition and the Ministry’s financial support. I wish to thank Grójec District Governor Krzysztof Ambroziak and Warka Mayor Dariusz Gizka, who always second the initiatives undertaken by our Museum.

May this colorful exhibition, filled with Californian sunshine and embodying the heart of Poland, equip all our visitors with positive emotions and leave them with an unforgettable impression.

Iwona Stefaniak
Director of the Casimir Pulaski Museum in Warka

exhibition catalog ( PDF file)

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Exhibition “Diagonally by KrakArt Group”
The Casimir Pulaski Museum in Warka
July 5–November 29, 2020

Exhibition Curators:
Prof. Jan Wiktor Sienkiewicz, Anna Rudek-Śmiechowska, PhD

In cooperation with:
Director Iwona Stefaniak

Organized by:
The Casimir Pulaski Museum in Warka

Honorary Patronage:

Vice-President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Culture and National Heritage
Prof. Piotr Gliński



Grójec District Governor Krzysztof Ambroziak



Warka Mayor Dariusz Gizka

 


Exhibition designed by:
Kamila Schinwelska, Elipsy

The Casimir Pulaski Museum in Warka is a cultural institution co-run by
the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and the District of Grójec