The Casimir Pulaski Museum in Warka is delighted to invite you to tour our most recent temporary exhibition, which is due to open on December 17, 2022 at the manor library.
The Casimir Pulaski Museum in Warka is delighted to invite you to tour our most recent temporary exhibition, which is due to open on December 17, 2022 at the manor library.
We present dozens of lithographs according to drawings by Napoleon Orda (1807–1883). Orda was a versatile artist, living and working during the Romantic Period. He was born into a Polish noble family who came from the territory of present-day Belarus. He practiced musical composition alongside Frederic Chopin, dabbled into writing, but he made a name for himself thanks to his great visual art skills.
Our exhibition, entitled "Napoleon Orda. Highlights from the Collection of the Casimir Pulaski Museum in Warka," is the proverbial icing on the cake, crowning an extensive conservation project. The idea was first put forward by Museum historian Karol Kucharski. The Museum not only led the conservation project, but also digitized, framed, and saved from oblivion more than a hundred lithographs made in the late 1800s.
Thanks to the Polish parliament, the country is currently celebrating the Year of Polish Romanticism. Our Exhibition is a perfect way to commemorate it, bringing forward Orda’s extraordinary works. During his golden years, the Artist traveled across the vast territory of the former Republic of Poland with a sketchbook, pencil, and paints and drew exceptional architectural objects: mansions, palaces, castles, and churches, including the Orthodox ones. This way, Orda immortalized places which testified to the rich history of his homeland, which perished because of the partitions. His work may well be called a mission thanks to its artistic and patriotic significance. As a result, about 1,000 vedutas, i.e. landscapes with elements of architecture, gave those structures another life.
With his highly-detailed prints, the Artist left a unique legacy, which is of utmost importance not only to Poles, but also to Ukrainians, Belarusians, and Lithuanians. In many cases, the places he drew have not stood the test of time, which makes his work crucial. Art historians and experts in particular appreciate their documentary value. It seems that the Author himself was aware of the role his mission was going to take, since he popularized some of the vedutas by publishing them at his own expense as lithographs in "Album of Historical Views of Poland." Our Museum has been collecting them for years and we are now proud to be presenting them to you. The displayed lithographs are not random. The Museum’s collection lists more than 100 of them, and the Exhibition features more than 40, which depict venues in Podolia, Volhynia, and Kiev.
Through the prism of the Exhibition, you will be able to look to the east towards Ukraine, which is currently experiencing Russia’s military aggression. The Exhibition showcases the ruins of the castle in Zhvanets, which played a pivotal role during the Bar Confederation. The Visitor will also see the monastery in Horodyszcze with the grave of Fr. Marek Jandołowicz, who was close to Juliusz Słowacki’s heart. What is more, we present to you the beautiful residence of the Sanguszko family of princes in Slavuta as well as a number of other exceptional places which are crucial to Polish heritage.
The Exhibition is available not only in Polish, but also in Ukrainian. We would like to thank Kharkiv university professors Olena Bohdaszyna and Olena Kravchenko for their kind cooperation.
Join us for an inspiring journey, following in Napoleon Orda’s footsteps.
The Exhibition "Napoleon Orda. Highlights from the Collection of the Casimir Pulaski Museum in Warka" is due to open on December 15, 2022 and will be available to Visitors from December 17, 2022 through May 14, 2023 (except for a Christmas–New Year break from December 23, 2022 through January 15, 2023.)
Curator: Karol Kucharski
In cooperation with: Iwona Stefaniak
Commentary in Ukrainian:
Prof. Olena Bohdaszyna,
Olena Krawczenko, PhD
In cooperation with: Karol Kucharski, Marzena Pawłowska
Designed by:
Kaja Nosal, Anna Wręga, PhD with ONTO Studio
Executed by: Ferwor
Conservator:
Dariusz Subocz with ARS VETA
Framed by:
Józef Tomczyk
Special thanks to:
Marzena Kądrowska-Grochal, Janusz Kreczmański, Sławomir Szewczyk, Anna Trzaska
Honorary patronage:
Media coverage:
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The Exhibition "Napoleon Orda. Highlights from the Collection of the Casimir Pulaski Museum in Warka"
was subsidized by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
