The Department of the History of Modern Art in the Catholic University of Lublin John Paul II. An Outline of History

Abstract

The history of the Department of the History of Modern Art in the Catholic University of Lublin reach as far back as 1945. It was then that Prof. Marian Morelowski arrived from Lublin in Vilnius, and in the third trimester of the academic year 1944/45 established a Department of the History of Art at KUL. In the same year he employed Antoni Maśliński (MA) as an assistant and then Piotr Bohdziewicz (PhD) as a vice-professor. Although the whole history of art is taught here, the Department has specialised since its beginning in modern art. Prof. Morelowski had written (before the war) important works on Vilnius Baroque and – no matter that in Lublin he was also interested in the history of art from other epochs – he was well disposed towards modern art. The other two workers, also previously linked with Vilnius, were almost exclusively occupied with Baroque (see P. Bohdziewicz's monumental book Zagadnienie formy w architekturze baroku [The Question of Form in the Architecture of the Baroque], Lublin 1961). Master's theses written at the Department of the History of Art was generally devoted to the Polish art of the 16^th-18^th centuries (in particular the Lublin region).

When Prof. Morelowski moved in 1949 to Wrocław, Prof. P. Bohdziewicz was made the chair of the History of Art. Dr. A. Maśliński collaborated with him from 1949 onwards as adjunct, and then from 1958 as vice-professor. As the Department of Ancient Art and Classical Archaeology was established in 1951 (with Prof. Rajmund Gostkowski from Vilnius as its chair), the name was changed (in the same year) into Department of the History of Medieval and Modern Art. Twenty years later, in 1971, it was divided into three departments: History of Medieval, Modern, and Contemporary Art.

When Prof. P. Bohdziewicz retired in 1966, his successor was made dr. Antoni Maśliński (from 1973 on a professor), first as a vice-chair of the Department, and from 1968 on the chair. From 1971 on in the Department of the History of Modern Art his collaborators were the following: dr. Maria Piwocka (1971-1979), Roman Zwierzchowski (1976-1991, MA then PhD), and Jadwiga Tabiś-Dawidowicz (1982-1995, MA).

In 1988, after Prof. A. Maśliński's retirement in 1987, the Department of the History of Modern Art employed dr. Jerzy Józef Lileyko who a year later in 1989 was made chair of the Department, and in 1992 obtained the position of professor. When dr. R. Zwierzchowski and J. Tabiś-Dawidowicz MA left KUL, the Department employed: dr. Waldemar Odorowski (1991-1993), dr. Irena Rolska-Boruch, and Rev. Jan Nieciecki (MA then PhD) – both from 1995 on.

Prof. J. Lileyko retired in 2004. Then Prof. Urszula Małgorzata Mazurczak was made head of the Department of the History of Modern Art. In the same year the Department employed dr. Krzysztof Gombin.

In its research the Department of the History of Modern Art KUL – in accord with the tradition of the former Department of the History of Art – focused mainly on the issues of baroque architecture, both in its regional and European dimensions. The results, broadened by an analyses of architectonic and its related ideas, have brought about a surprising thesis. Namely, that there is a closer kinship between the architecture of the Baroque and Roman antiquity, contrary to common opinions about the primacy of the relation between antiquity and the Renaissance. This kinship was shown in a more faithful application of the humanistic principle of anthropomorphism, taken from antiquity, in the Baroque, the system of proportions derived from that principle and the main architectonic motifs. Using some kinds of antic figures and gestures (counterpost, otium sapientis, “Brutus' gesture”) as a tangible criterion of humanism in plastic arts, its presence in modern art has been proved (A. Maśliński, Architektura renesansu włoskiego wobec antyku rzymskiego. Innowacje twórcze [The Architecture of Italian Renaissance Towards Roman Antiquity. Creative Innovations], Lublin 1954; the same, Architektura antyku w interpretacji baroku [The Architecture of Antiquity in the Interpretations of the Baroque], Lublin 1962; the same, Humanizm w sztuce. Antyk i człowiek [Humanism in Art. Antiquity and Man], Lublin 1993). Research was also conducted on the structural-spatial questions in the type of central-longitudinal churches (R. Zwierzchowski, Porządki architektoniczne w grupie późnobarokowych kościołów Lubelszczyzny na planie eliptyczno-ośmiobocznym [Architectonic Orders in a Group of Late-Baroque Churches of the Lublin Region on an Elliptical-Octagonal Plan], in: Studia nad sztuką renesansu i baroku [Studies on Renaissance and Baroque Art], vol. II, ed. A. Maśliński, Lublin 1993, p. 35-257).

With regard to Polish art they dealt with the art inspired by kings and Diets of the Polish Republic, including the art of Warszawa in the modern epoch. The belief that the Saxons had mainly influenced the architecture of the capital of the Wettins' epoch was revised. Instead, the direct role of Italian and French designers was highlighted, and in consequence the royal-private mercenary was separated from the state one, controlled by the Diet (J. Lileyko, Zamek Warszawski – rezydencja władz Rzeczypospolitej 1569-1763 [The Warsaw Castle – the Residence of the Polish Authorities 1569-1763], Wrocław-Warszawa-Kraków [...] 1984; the same, Życie codzienne w Warszawie za Wazów [Daily Life in Warsaw in the Time of the Vasa Family] Warszawa 1984; the same, Regalia polskie [Polish Regalia] Warszawa 1987; the same, Sejm polski. Tradycja – ikonografia – sztuka [The Polish Diet – Iconography – Art] Warszawa 2003). The Lublin artistic milieu and the history of residential architecture in the Lublin region were also objects of study (I. Rolska-Boruch, Cech złotników lubelskich XVI-XVIII w. [The Guild of Lublin Goldsmiths in the 16^th and 18^th Centuries] Lublin 1997; the same, Siedziby szlacheckie i magnackie na ziemiach zwanych Lubelszczyzną 1500-1700 [The Residences of the Nobility and Aristocracy in the Lands Called the Lublin Region 1500-1700] Lublin 1999; the same, ”Domy pańskie” na Lubelszczyźnie od późnego gotyku do wczesnego baroku [“The Lord's Houses” in the Lublin Region from the Late Gothic to the Early Baroque] Lublin 2003). They studied Polish modern aristocratic mercenary, in particular the Białystok mercenary of Jan Klemens Branicki (Rev. J. Nieciecki's papers, also the “apocryphal” arrangement of the interior design in the 18^th-century Guest Palace in Białystok according to his idea), the mercenary of the Potockis family, especially Eustachy Potocki in Radzyń Podlaski (K. Gombin's papers).

In 1997 prof. J. Lileyko together with the staff of the Department prepared an international session on the topic: Sztuka ziem wschodnich Rzeczypospolitej w XVI-XVIII wieku [The Art of the Polish Eastern Lands in the 16^th and 18^th Centuries] (the material from the session were then published). Professor initiated also (in 2001) a series of learned sessions devoted to modern art, every second year in Kazimierz upon the Vistula. They host scholars above all from three centres: Warszawa, Kraków, and Lublin. The hitherto sessions were devoted to the following topics: Lublin – między Krakowem a Warszawą [Lublin – Between Kraków and Warszawa] (2001) and Fundator i dzieło w sztuce nowożytnej [The Founder and Work in Modern Art] (2003 and 2005). The materials from the session are printed in successive volumes (starting from volume V) of the Studies on Renaissance and Baroque Art.

On the initiative of Prof. A. Maśliński the Department of the History of Modern Art KUL publishes a series: Studies on Renaissance and Baroque Art – up to now six volumes have appeared; the following two are in print. The Department has also prepared for print (ed. by J. Lileyko, and then with I. Rolska-Boruch) other collective works: Sztuka ziem wschodnich Rzeczypospolitej XVI-XVIII w. [The Art of the Polish Eastern Lands in the 16^th and 18^th Centuries] Lublin 2000; three commemorative books: to honour Prof. Antoni Maśliński (2002), Prof. Jerzy Lileyko (1999), and Jerzy Paszenda SJ (2002), printed in the “Humanistic Annals,” in fascicles no 4, most of them “special,” like the present fascicle of those “Annals” (2006).