Gino Severini about Polish painting. 70th anniversary of the exhibition of Polish painters-soldiers in Rome in 1944

Abstract

The paper is an annotated scholarly edition of a text written by Gino Severini, painter and art critic, further augmented with some bibliographical footnotes. Severini’s original essay constituted the preface to Wystawa polskich malarzy żołnierzy (Exhibition of Polish painters-soldiers), the catalogue of an exhibition arranged in 1944 in Rome by The Department of Culture and Press of the Polish Army Corps. This publication, hitherto unnoticed in Polish literature, is an attempt at evaluation – despite the continuing war – of artistic works created by Poles in the period 1939–1944 and at establishing their relation to contemporary European art, in particular Italian and French. The Italian writer especially emphasizes strong affinities of pictures shown at the Roman exhibition, created by such artists as Roman Burdyłło (fell in the battle of Monte Cassino), Józef Czapski, Adolf Glett, Stanisław Gliwa, Leopold Haar, Józef Jarema, Jan Marian Kościałkowski, Edward Matuszczak, Henryk Siedlanowski, Zygmunt Turkiewicz, Stanisław Westwalewicz, Tadeusz Wąs, and Janina Wolf-Bogucka, with the painterly experiences of French post-Impressionism.