Bakos Katalin - Manicka Anna szerk.: Párbeszéd fekete-fehérben, Lengyel és magyar grafika 1918–1939 (MNG, Warszawa–Budapest, 2009)

III. KATALÓGUS - 2. HAGYOMÁNYKERESÉS - - Folklór - - Hétköznapi falusi élet

function of folklore consists in sustaining group ties, but it only concerns the communities for which this folklore is the only available symbolic reality. However, it is sometimes possible to build a new image of the whole nation on the basis of a tradition of one social group. There are two groups in Poland whose cultures serve as the building blocks of the national identity from the beginning of the 20th century. The first group are the highlanders from Zakopane, the second - as in the entire Europe - the peasantry. After 1989, folk art still evokes aversion among many Poles, because the previous regime succeeded in completely putting people off folk art, but the highland culture is in its heyday, which can mainly be seen in today's Polish advertisements. Highlanders suddenly became indefatigable defenders of Polishness and the exponents of Polish tastes. The fascination with the Polish highland culture lasted throughout the whole century. Tytus Chałubiński (18201889), a Polish physician and nature lover, the founder of the Tatra Society, friend and protector of highlanders, was the first advocate of the highland folklore. His most famous friend from Zakopane was Jan Krzeptowski Sabała, a musician, songster and storyteller. The most important Podhale towns were and still are Zakopane and Nowy Targ. Zakopane acquired the status of a health-resort in 1886, which contributed to its fast development. In the 19th century, highlanders from Zakopane used to go to Pest to earn money, and on the way they had to climb the Low Tatras and the Slovak Ore Mountains. "The main border routes - dating back to the royal, Polish times - bypassed the Tatras, going one through Czorsztyn to Spisz to Keżmarok, the second through Jordanów to Orava to Tvrdosin."

18 On the Magyar side (as people in Zakopane used to say), life was easier, the wine was cheaper, and there was plenty of sun. For example Klemens Bachleda, a famous highlander from Zakopane, a guide and rescuer, used to go to the Magyars to earn money. It was through the Tatra Mountains that the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, in which also Polish people fought, came to Poland. However, the Austrian owner of Zakopane, Emanuel Homolacz, the proprietor of ironworks, did not want to sell the smelted iron to Hungary, because it was used there to produce weapons for the insurgents. Through the same way across the Tatras, Poles smuggled people to Hungary during the World War II. Zakopane has always been a special place in Polish culture and art. "Myths can shape culture more powerfully than the reality. This phenomenon surely concerns Zakopane, especially from the period between the First and the Second World War. The myth of a place and the 'myth of return' were often the only baggage carried in 1939 by artists, writers and intellectuals forced to emigrate. The myth of Zakopane and the Tatras, created at the foot of Giewont by several generations of newcomers thirsty for mountains, kept them alive in conditions of threat."

19 During the interwar period, many artists and writers lived permanently or temporarily in Zakopane; among them were Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, artist, writer, playwright and philosopher, Zofia Stryjeńska and her husband Karol Stryjeński, artists, Rafał Malczewski, painter, Karol Szymanowski, composer, and others. Highland motifs strongly inspired Polish artists, mainly members of the "Ryt" group, e.g. Władysław Skoczylas and Edmund Bartłomiejczyk. The father of the modern Polish woodcut was connected with Zakopane in his youth, and that was where his fascination for the art of this region came from. He was deeply convinced that the highland art, despite the fact that it generally used ready-made patterns, had all the hallmarks of originality and an inner strength. He thought that the folk artists from the Polhale region had a feel for the material and the tools. What is more, Skoczylas, a fervent promoter of the national art, after having conducted suitable stylistic research, differentiated the folk art works which were inspired by foreign art from those inspired by native artistic work. The latter were characterized by the use of a floral ornament, and also by diversified means of expression. Skoczylas is the author of two portfolios devoted to highland subjects: Zbójnicka [Highlander Bandits] (1920) and Podhalańska [Podhale] (1921). Edmund Bartłomiejczyk, the co-founder of "Ryt", Skoczylas's peer, was fascinated by the Hutsul culture, which constituted his main source of inspiration. He was also the author of two woodcuts connected with Podhale, namely Janosik and Janosik's Lover. These works were once