Warm days and rainy days. Contribution to the study on the subject of immigration in the light of artists’ utterances

Abstract

The topic of artistic emigration has been elaborated by scientists for years, examined mainly in monographic terms (artistic output or the position the artist managed to achieve on a given market). Although the studies concerning Polish artistic emigration are decentralized, singular and still minimum-scale, it is worth turning attention to numerous achievements in the field.

One very interesting aspect of that sea of motives seems to lie in the utterances of artists working outside Poland. Life history of specific individuals analyzed on the basis of interviews as well as how they have spent their lives and what they have managed to achieve, necessarily including their own attitude to it and the immigration itself - that is a direction of studies definitely worth delving into. The present article is an introduction to the analysis of the problem of artistic immigration approached on the basis of direct testimonies of artists.

In the text, apart from a systematic presentation of the state of research on Polish artistic immigration (with special attention paid to the USA, France and Great Britain), there is an outline of four chosen areas of immigration life: assimilation, technical and creative possibilities, Polish motives abroad, and loneliness. Moreover, there is a brief definition of 'immigrant artist' and certain suggested substitutions such as 'address' or 'universalism'.

The topic of immigration in the take of artists was presented on selected examples (including: Michał Batory, Władysław Teodor Benda, Jan Lebenstein, Adam Niklewicz, Józef Czapski, Piotr Kamler) by means of biographical facts and personal opinions.