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

highly popular, perhaps due to a synthetic presentation: in a thick black frame there are two busts, of two colours, with appropriate captions cut out from a block. The second source of folk inspiration were the folk customs from various regions of the country, mainly, however, from the Cracow and Warsaw regions. Many of these customs did not stand the test of time, or they are cultivated today only for show, to save the dying tradition, to strengthen the regional or national identity. From a whole series of customs cut out by Bartłomiejczyk, only the tradition of making cribs (Kraków szopka) survived: today they are made specially for a contest, and afterwards they are all exhibited on in the Main Market Square in Cracow. The custom of dancing around a maik (wreath), and even the tradition of drowning a straw figure representing winter (called Marzanna), which both were once popular spring traditions, are slowly disappearing. The curious thing is that śmigus dingus (an Easter Monday custom of dousing people with water), perceived in the world and even in Europe itself, as a typically Polish custom, existed also in Hungary. Proverbs and sayings were also an element of the folk tradition. In today's Poland, as was already mentioned, people do not eagerly reach for folk words of wisdom, because they were so often and readily quoted in the previous regime. This, however, does not change the fact that these proverbs really are the source of genuine wisdom, a testimony of common sense, and also - of various prejudices and phobias proper to the Polish people. Engravings by Maria Dunin-Piotrowicz entitled Where the Devil Cannot Go Himself, He Sends a Woman and Death and Wife are Given by God, are an example of sayings smacking of misogyny. The woodcuts are characterized by a large scale of textural solutions and a complicated composition structure. The artistic output of Zofia Stryjeńska was a successful endeavour to build the Polish national style, not necessarily based on folk art. Her Slavic Gods enjoyed spectacular success: during 20 years, several portfolios of Gods were published in various formats. The earliest ones date from 191 7, and a year later the artist did a series of Bristol boards for polychromes at the Wawel Castle. These were natural-sized Gods, that is of the size of an adult person. Later series of Cods were published in the form of lithographs, in several smaller versions and sizes. Stryjeńska differed from other artists of the period in her immense creative energy and the spontaneity of her art, a real elan vital. Moreover, Stryjenska's work had scientific bases, the artist was interested in the religious past of the Slavs. In the 20th century, owing to archaeological and linguistic research, our knowledge of representational art in the service of cults practiced by the Slavs significantly increased. Stryjeńska visited museums and sketched from nature, then creatively transformed her sketches, so that unique works of art came into being. Country life, as opposed to folklore, was neither colourful nor entertaining, even for those who only registered it, standing aside, from the position of guests. Folklore was beautiful, colourful and occasional; the everyday life of Polish villages between the wars, particularly during the crisis period, was exceptionally hard, and sometimes even tragic. Tadeusz Kulisiewicz was an artist not only of great talent, butalso of an authentic compassion and sensitiveness to social injustice. Medieval sculpture and German Expressionism were undoubtedly the sources of his art. The most important place in his life, like Zakopane was for Skoczylas and the Warsaw Old Town was for Cieślewski, was a small village in the Beskids called Szlembark. This was a godforsaken place, whose inhabitants were poor and worn out by life, there were many physically and mentally handicapped people (Józuś Brzana). The land was infertile, the climate severe, and people and animals died prematurely. The most famous series done by Kulisiewicz, entitled "Szlembark", was published asa portfolio in 1932 thanks to the Institute for Art Propaganda. Critics compared Kulisiewicz's woodcuts to stained-glass windows, to Stanisław Wyspiański, but the remark concerning the similarity of Kulisiewicz's figures to wooden sculptures seems most accurate. Besides, prints as such evoke associations with bas-reliefs executed in wood. The woodcut Going to the Fields by Bartłomiejczyk is an example of a bird's-eye view, which often appears in works devoted to the rural life, both because of the visual attractiveness and to