On a return visit. The decorative panel by Jan Rembowski from the Dłuski Sanatorium in Zakopane

After almost 100 years, a decorative panel entitled Pochód górali (Procession of Highlanders) painted by the artist Jan Rembowski (1879–1923) will return temporarily to Zakopane. This monumental work of art was initially part of the artistic interior design of the theatre room in the main building of the sanatorium run by Bronisława and Kazimierz Dłuski in Kościelisko.

This magnificent treatment facility from the early 20th century, still standing today albeit in a changed form, is a testament to the investment made by a group formed in Kraków in 1899 called the “Sanatorium Association for Chest Ailment Sufferers in Zakopane”. In the Young Poland period (ca. 1890-1918), the facility won renown not only as an outstanding medical establishment using the most modern equipment and methods for the treatment of tuberculosis, but also as a museum of vernacular art, which quickly became an obligatory stopping off point for visitors to the Tatra Mountains.

Dłuskis took care to create an original design for the sanatorium, incorporating art into the treatment programme. The most significant decorative works were created in the years 1909 and 1910 and were installed in the recreational areas. Recognised artists such as Karol Frycz and Henryk Uziembło, members of the Polish Applied Art Society, were employed and entrusted with decorating the reading room together with the library and music room respectively, as was Jan Rembowski, at that time living in Zakopane and undergoing treatment at the facility. The latter, who had earlier also been engaged in works at the sanatorium, decorated the theatre room and the preceding vestibule with straircase that led up to it.

As a result of a succession of renovations and transformations, the edifice in Kościelisko lost its artistic character and the decorations were almost entirely forgotten.

The exhibition of Rembowski’s painting at villa “Atma” with selected reproductions of photos from around the year 1910 which will give visitors an insight into the ideas of artistic interior design in the early 20^th century and will highlight the ways in which applied art and design reflect art rooted in local tradition and culture.

Curator: Irena Buchenfeld