17.03.2008, at 6 p.m.

 

THE HORATII AND BRICKWOMEN.THE POLITICS OF THE SPACE/ THE POLITICS OF SILENCE IN THE PAINTERLY MANIFESTO OF POLISH SOCIAL REALISM 

 

The lecture endeavours to find an answer to a question: What is the link between the paintings Pass the brick (1950), an icon of social realistic art, and its pendant, Brickwomen (1950) of Aleksander Kobzdej, with Men’s bathhouse (1999) and Women’s bathhouse (1997) of Katarzyna Kozyra; and between all mentioned, neoclassicism and Plekhanov. Ewa Toniak will analyse iconographic models which inspired Kobzdej: The Oath of the Horatii (1784) and Brutus (1789) of Jacques-Louis David, both predicting place and role of women in the new social order of the Revolution – in private space, without access to the language. She will then reflect upon a similar function of Brickwomen and the reasons of marginalization of this picture right from the moment of its accomplishment, putting it into non-existence (that is, into museum’s storeroom), while the heroic and male Pass the brick became an iconic work of Polish social realism.

Ewa Toniak is an art historian and critic. Her interests include contemporary art in feminist perspective, media image of women artists, “blanks” in Polish history and the presence of women in history. Curator of the monographic exhibition in Warsaw’s Gallery Zachęta dedicated to the sculptor Alina Ślesińska (December 2007) and organizer of the accompanying scientific debate entitled “Women and art around the year 1960”.

The lecture is organized in cooperation with Korporacja Ha!art.