The exhibition on the Kraków Group of Five is the first in the history of museology to be devoted to the activities of this Young Poland group, which existed for less than two and a half years (October 1905 – February 1908), since the joint initiatives of its members at the beginning of the 20th century. This group, almost completely forgotten today, was formed by Leopold Gottlieb, Witold Wojtkiewicz, Wlastimil Hofman, Mieczysław Jakimowicz and Jan Rembowski.
The exhibition commemorates the 120th anniversary of the formation of the group, also known as the ‘Norwid’ Group, and focuses on the achievements of graduates of the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts, whose early work was a response to the avant-garde trends emerging in European art. Their emergence took the form of an open rebellion against the Polish Artists’ Society “Sztuka” and the ossified academic rules that championed realism, and revealed the direction of interest among artists of the late Young Poland period, who focused on depicting the individual’s inner experiences and emotional states, thereby paving the way for early Expressionism and the symbolism of mood.
Exhibition curator: Irena Buchenfeld