Między lękiem a sztuką. Kobieta w twórczości Haliny Korn- Żuławskiej

Abstract

BETWEEN FEAR AND ART. WOMEN IN THE WORKS OF HALINA KORN-‑ŻUŁAWSKA

The article is a reflection on the ambiguous and diverse art by Halina Korn. Still underrated, the painter, sculptor and writer worked in the shadow of her prominent husband Marek Żuławski as one of the so called “naive artists.” Is that valid? The critics cited in this writing answer this question. “Between fear and art” is also an attempt to abolish the theory that Korn was suffering from depression, through which her works may me interpreted. It was not the disorder, but the extraordinarily strong and ambiguous influence of her husband which determined the form and content of her artistic message—a relationship between kindred spirits, marked by loneliness, became the reason of both Korn’s birth and death as an artist and a woman. Femininity, so important and constantly tested so severely in her non-artistic life thus became the dominating element of her output. Correlated—be it painted or sculpted—the various views of femininity are a tale of the artist herself: a liberated, attractive temptress, a mother—Korn was never to play that role—reading the clues, sometimes obvious, sometimes subtle, we enter into a space where it is hard to separate the artistic from real life.