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Art of the Polish Legions

03.06.2016-31.12.2017 Art of the Polish Legions

On 18 March 1916 the first great Polish exhibition of legionary art, organized by Jerzy Mycielski, was opened in the rooms of the Krakow Society of Friends of Fine Arts. More than 500 works by artists serving in the Polish Legions and those supporting the Legions’ Cause with their art were shown. Originally scheduled to last a month, the exhibition was such a great success that it was extended until the middle of May 1916.

One hundred years later we wish to recall the artists and their works in an exhibition held jointly by the Polish Army Museum in Warsaw and the National Museum in Krakow – both of these institutions boast important collections of legionary art.

The history of the collection held by the National Museum in Krakow goes back to 1916, when Jan Rembowski made a gift of a series of legionary portraits to the institution. Another object of special significance is a donation from 1916, a plaster model of Włodzimierz Konieczny’s sculpture Legionary with a commemorative inscription on the pedestal that reads: KOMENDANTOWI GŁÓWNEMU / JÓZEFOWI PIŁSUDSKIEMU / WIERNY / 2. PUŁK STRZELCÓW / I BRYGADY / 19.III.1916 (TO COMMANDANT / JÓZEF PIŁSUDSKI / FROM THE FAITHFUL / 2nd RIFLE REGIMENT / OF THE 1st BRIGADE / 19 MARCH 1916). The model was used to produce a bronze cast presented to Piłsudski on the day of his patron saint. The sculptor and the legionary who had posed for him were both killed in the Battle of Kostiuchnówka (Kostyukhnivka) on 5 July 1916. The above-mentioned exhibition of the Art of the Polish Legions featured, among other works, a series of drawings by Zygmunt Rozwadowski. The series was purchased by Archduke Charles Stephen of Austria, who visited the exhibition on 13 May 1916 and in 1917 donated it to the National Museum.

It should be noted that exhibitions of legionary art were intended not only to promote the Legions’ Campaign, but also to raise funds for their operations, for example, through the sale of the works on display. The Polish Legions were a volunteer force, subordinate to the command of the Austro-Hungarian Army, but organized and equipped by the Military Department of the Supreme National Committee and funded by the Treasury Department.

In 1920, The Museum received the collection of legionary art held by the Executive Committee of the Supreme National Committee. A document signed by Józef Piłsudski on 29 May 1920 lists 595 items which, in addition to paintings, prints and sculptures, included the types of uniforms used by the Polish Legions, commemorative badges and eagles for military caps. In subsequent years the collection gradually grew, mostly through donations, in particular from the families and heirs of artist-legionaries.

MNK The Main Building

al. 3 Maja 1 Gallery Arms and Uniforms in Poland
  • Monday: closed
  • Tuesday - Sunday: 10.00-18.00
Departure of the First Cadre Company from Oleandry in Krakow on 6 August 1914
colour print after Jerzy Kossak's painting
Art by the Legion Soldiers
Art by the Legion Soldiers
Art by the Legion Soldiers
Opening of the exhibition "Art of the Polish Legions"
Opening of the exhibition "Art of the Polish Legions"

Under the honorary patronage of the Minister of the National Defence Antoni Macierewicz

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