The publication *A New Beginning: Modernism in the Second Polish Republic. Studies and Academic Materials* has been released; it serves as a summary of the academic session accompanying the exhibition A New Beginning: Modernism in the Second Polish Republic, presented at the National Museum in Kraków in 2023.
The publication brings together texts devoted to various aspects of modernism and its significance for Polish and European culture. The authors address, among other things, the ways in which modernism—a complex phenomenon—can be described and interpreted, and they identify areas of artistic creation that require further exploration in existing research on the art of the Second Polish Republic.
Another key theme of the volume is the impact of broadly understood modernization processes on art and social life in interwar Poland. The publication presents Polish modernism within a broader historical and cultural context—taking into account the experience of both world wars, its relationship with European art (particularly that of Central and Eastern Europe), and the multicultural character of Polish society and its culture.
“A New Beginning: Modernism in the Second Polish Republic: Studies and Academic Materials” offers a perspective on modernism not as a closed chapter in art history, but as a complex and multidimensional phenomenon whose full understanding requires consideration of diverse research perspectives.
